


Chocolate Crinkles

by Monti_B



Series: Cookie Jar [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drugs, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Jealousy, Journalist!Lance, Love, M/M, Minor Character Death, Modern Era, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Popstar!Keith, Relationship(s), Romance, Slow Build, Smut, Substance Abuse, Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-24 20:29:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 106,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20020555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monti_B/pseuds/Monti_B
Summary: As much as he didn't want to admit it, Lance still clearly remembered the day he had first met Keith.Keith had stood out from that crowd of vague faces the moment Lance had spotted him. He had worn a constant frown and drawn attention to himself by throwing around words Lance had never heard before. It was the first time Lance was hearing words so clearly meant to insult and hurt. Even when his parents told him not to listen, Lance couldn't turn away.At first Lance watched him from afar, how he would glare at adults and refuse to let them approach him. He would fearlessly call them names and throw insults at them, seemingly unafraid of consequences. It was mystifying to Lance.–––––Now that Lance and Keith are dating, they face an entirely new set of problems. With Lance struggling to deal with his overnight fame and Keith too busy with being a celebrity to help him cope, can their relationship really last?





	1. I – iV – V7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is a sequel to "Oatmeal Cookies". I suggest reading that before reading this, because even though I tried my best to explain callbacks to OC, there's a wealth of things you just have to know from OC to understand.
> 
> Having said that, I hope returning readers will find things they were hoping to see! Of course, I'd love new readers to find their way to this story as well. Also, in case the explicit rating and the tags didn't make it obvious, there will be smut! I haven't written anything remotely smut in years, so it'll be a little nerve-wracking for me once I upload it. Additionally, this sequel is shaping up to be quite a bit longer than OC, with lots of different themes, more twists and turns and way more side characters. I'm really excited to share it! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Lance still clearly remembered the day he had first met Keith. His memories of kindergarten were hazy, but for some reason that day was as vibrant and alive in his memory as the thriller he had watched with Hunk the day before. Although reverberant, perhaps the memories of that day were simply reconstructed from the countless photos his parents had enthusiastically taken, gleeful at him in his too big baseball jersey, little Lance's smile goofy with one of his front teeth missing. Lance had sworn many times in the past to simply discard those memories and forget them, but every time he did, they simply grew more deeply rooted into every fibre of his being.

The day had been exceptionally sunny. Lance vaguely remembered looking up into the sun, being blinded by the light and then having his mother huffily scold him for it. The next thing he remembered was a vague crowd of children all around him, some excited, some with tears in their eyes at having their parents leaving. None of the faces were at all recognisable in Lance's fuzzy memories. Even with the blurry photos from that time, he still couldn't recall any of the faces. Except for one.

Keith had stood out from that crowd of vague faces the moment Lance had spotted him. He had worn a constant frown and drawn attention to himself by throwing around words Lance had never heard before. The louder Keith got, the more disturbed the adults seemed. Some went so far as to over-dramatically cover their children's ears. It was the first time Lance was hearing words so clearly meant to insult and hurt. Even when his parents told him not to listen, Lance couldn't turn away. Those yet unknown swear words rolled off this child's tongue like they were a common language to him. To Lance, who at the time felt like a criminal even just uttering the word "butt", it was earth-shattering. Were they truly the same age? Perhaps it was fascination or simply morbid curiosity, but Lance felt compelled to talk to him. He seemed different from everyone else, unique and interesting. Lance couldn't help but be intrigued. At first he watched him from afar, how he would glare at adults and refuse to let them approach him. He would fearlessly call them names and throw insults at them, seemingly unafraid of consequences. It was mystifying to Lance.

Things after that were a bit of a blur yet again. The parents were eventually gone, so no photos of what happened after existed. Lance couldn't recall how it happened, but the next thing to come up in his memories was Keith in a corner arguing with one of the kindergarten teachers, two children in another corner crying miserably and being attended to by a different teacher. For some reason, Lance vividly remembered the pitiful sight of their tear and snot-stained faces. Lance also remembered that the adults were not happy with Keith's behaviour and were threatening him with punishment, trying to ease his anger by force. Perhaps to other people Keith looked rowdy and aggressive. By all accounts he was, but to Lance he didn't seem that way. Rather, Keith reminded him of the stray dog in Lance's neighbourhood that would sometimes show up to mooch food off of people. It never let anyone touch it, growling threateningly whenever anyone got too close. Parents would warn their children not to feed the downright feral dog, but someone in the neighbourhood always ended up caving and putting out food anyway. Despite the dog being called vicious and dangerous, all Lance saw was an animal that was used to being hurt. And instead of waiting to be hurt, it resorted to hurting others before it could be hurt itself.

After that, it hadn't taken long for Lance to clash with Keith for the first time. Lance's curiosity had quickly turned into an intense dislike when Keith had punched out one of his milk teeth for trying to play with a toy he had chosen for himself.

Lance's thoughts returned to the present when he felt Keith nuzzling deeper into his side. They were sitting together in the back seat of a van, the city dipped in darkness passing by outside. Shiro was in the front seat silently doing something on his phone. The driver didn't talk much either, although he did sometimes talk to Shiro in hushed tones, almost as though not wanting to disturb the two "lovebirds" in the back. Lance still couldn't process all the things that had happened in only a single day. Keith had bought him an expensive fancy suit, makeup artists had styled him, he had walked a red carpet and met reporters desperate to get even just a single word out of him. Even as a fellow journalist in the same industry, Lance couldn't relate to the hunger he had seen in everyone's eyes. There had been a kind of excitement and viciousness he had never felt when it came to his own articles.

Once Lance had gotten used to the general chaos and noisiness of a red carpet event, and once his eyes had adjusted to the countless bright and too hot lights directed at him, he had slowly begun responding back on his own. He had felt Keith going a little tense next to him, but eventually relaxing again when Lance managed to have semi-professional conversations with the reporters. Being around journalists for so long had taught him how to avoid questions he didn't want to answer and instead respond with generic non-answers that didn't give away too much. Things after that went by in a bit of a blur. Lance remembered Keith at some point randomly starting to give the reporters a hard time and simply responding to all of their questions with a deadpan "No". Once Lance had picked up on the fact that Keith was very much over the constant barrage of the same three questions, he had stopped trying to be professional and begun answering with a pleasant smile and a friendly "Yes" to every single question. It had made Lance understand that there probably wasn't all that much harm in messing around a little after giving the exact same answer over and over again.

"What're you laughing about?"

Pulled from his musings at Keith's sleepy voice, Lance realised he had been quietly laughing to himself at the memory. "Just thinking about earlier. Most of the reporters just kinda… gave up. I guess they're used to your shit. But that one guy was _so_ pissed off. Did you see him?"

"Uh… oh, him." Keith pushed away from Lance a little to stretch and let out a small yawn. "He's just from some small online news thing. I've done an interview or two with him and it um… didn't go well."

Seeing Keith purposely avoiding his gaze, Lance could imagine what had happened. He had grown to appreciate that Keith was honest in that regard and didn't hide when he disliked or found someone annoying, but it frequently lead to him clashing with all types of people in the entertainment industry. Luckily, it seemed like he was actively making small efforts not to be such a massive dickhead.

"We're there, Keith," Shiro suddenly announced, rousing the two in the back from their hushed conversation. "Want us to drive you home, Lance? I still know your address, so you can sleep on the way if you want."

"Oh, I–"

"He's staying with me tonight," Keith cut Lance off, already wrapping a hand around his wrist to pull him along as he stepped out of the car. "Thanks for driving us. Night."

Lance heard the driver whistle suggestively after them as Keith practically dragged him towards his house. Hearing the whistle cut through the silent night so sharply, Lance grew flustered enough to completely forget to say any kind of thanks or good-bye.

"Shut up, Curtis!" Keith yelled over his shoulder indignantly.

Lance could see the back of Keith's neck and the tips of his ears growing a little red when the whistling only continued. He had to suppress a laugh at seeing Keith so embarrassed. If Keith caught him so much as even just grinning, he would most likely end up sulking for quite a while. Once they got to the door, Keith finally let go of him to unlock the door. Lance momentarily felt tempted to lean forward to plant a small peck on Keith's neck, but ultimately decided to simply bury his face in his shoulder instead. The coat Keith was wearing over his suit was pillowy enough that Lance almost felt himself drifting off to sleep.

"Tired?"

Feeling fingers lightly combing through his hair, Lance merely nodded. When the door beeped to indicate it unlocking, he didn't move away from his spot right away. Only when Keith roughly poked his forehead and pushed him off his shoulder did he actually move. They both slumped inside, haphazardly pushing off their shoes on the way.

"Hold on, I'll get you a change of clothes," Keith mumbled in that half-asleep voice of his, before shuffling away on somewhat unsteady feet.

Lance briefly wondered if Keith would even make it to his closet and back without falling asleep along the way. He had slept over enough times to know that a tired Keith at home and in the vicinity of a soft enough surface was prone to falling asleep just about anywhere. Glancing around the entranceway as he waited, Lance found himself oddly at ease. It _was_ the first time he was sleeping over after making things official with Keith, but so far it didn't feel different than any other time he had slept over.

As Lance continued waiting and could hear the distant sound of Keith rummaging around, his mind began to wander. It had only been an hour or two since they had left the after party of the premiere, but it all felt incredibly surreal to Lance even now. He still couldn't believe Keith had simply dragged him along to an actual movie premiere and so boldly revealed to the world that he was dating a guy. He expected the news to be all over this for at least two weeks; Keith had, after all, undoubtedly changed the course of his entire career. Meanwhile, Lance was so concerned with Keith's career that he hadn't actually invested much thought into how all this would affect himself. At the very least, he had thought about his family. How would they would react? What would they say when they met Keith? Would they welcome their relationship with open arms? Unfortunately, Lance couldn't say with certainty that they would. He wanted to believe his parents would be accepting of it, but something told him it wouldn't be that easy.

Keith returned already out of his suit and in a worn out black T-shirt and neon red sweatpants. "Here." He pushed a change of clothes into Lance's arm, then proceeded to slump towards his living room couch and practically collapsed into it. "Hurry up or I'll fall asleep." 

Scoffing a little to himself, Lance quickly changed out of his clothes. Usually he may have been a little coy about just undressing when the person he was dating was so close, but Keith was on his way to passing out from exhaustion and at the moment Lance also couldn't quite muster up the energy to be bashful, let alone make his way to a different room to change. And so he changed out of his suit, trying not to wrinkle or ruin it somehow, then neatly folded and placed it on a random counter. Lastly, he changed into the loose blue long-sleeve and checkered pyjama pants Keith had handed him. He doubted Keith had even properly looked at the clothes when he picked them out of that horrendously messy pile of clothes he kept in his closet.

"You already asleep?" Lance asked as he headed towards the couch.

"Mhm… no."

Chuckling a little at how Keith was clearly already some form of asleep, Lance shoved him aside a little to make room for himself. He ignored the annoyed little groan and began debating whether he should turn on the TV or not. He wasn't quite as tired as Keith and the guy would probably sleep through just about anything right now, so a little noise from the TV probably wouldn't bother him much. But as he was deep in thought, Lance's eyes began running along Keith's body next to him. He was sitting upright with his arms crossed but gradually sliding down the couch into a more comfortable position. Lance was about to tell him to just go to bed if he wanted to sleep, but then his wandering eyes stopped at where Keith's shirt was pushed up enough he could see his hip and a little sliver of his stomach. His gaze immediately stopped at the uneven little scars he found across Keith's hip bone. They were faded and a little difficult to really make out clearly. Old enough to be from Keith's childhood. It unwittingly brought Lance back to his earlier musings in the car. 

"Keith?"

"Hm…?"

Lance hesitated, not wanting to disturb Keith, who seemed comfortable and at ease sitting and dozing off. But remembering their first day in kindergarten again, questions that he couldn't shake circled through his mind. "You grew up with foster parents, right?" There was no audible response from Keith, nothing but the sense that he had perked up slightly at the question. "How… was it?" Lance immediately regretted even asking. He had heard enough horror stories about the foster system to know that hardly anyone came out of it completely happy with the experience. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

After staying silent at first, Keith eventually shifted around so he was sitting more upright, his face slightly turned away from Lance; in the process his shirt slid back down and hid the scars from sight. His entire posture became closed off, the air around him a little frigid. "Some families were okay. Some weren't." His voice was uncharacteristically low. "I didn't really have any say over where I ended up. Or over how I was treated." He paused, his head lowering slightly. "It sucked being reminded daily that I was just a kid with no power over my own fate."

Lance gulped nervously. He had expected that kind of answer, but actually hearing it still made his stomach drop. He recalled how much Keith had disliked people touching him in kindergarten and suddenly a shudder ran down his spine. "Did they…"

Noticing his hesitation, Keith turned around to properly look at Lance. "You can ask."

Having a hard time meeting Keith's eyes, Lance worried his bottom lip. "Did some of them hit you?" He carefully watched Keith's face for any sign of him being annoyed at all these questions, but all Lance found was the usual neutral mask that Keith put on when he didn't want anyone to know what he was thinking. As much as Lance had learned to read his expressions, when Keith got like this it was difficult even for him to understand what was going on in his head. The moment stretched on with an undefinable tension building between the two, until Keith finally nodded weakly, expression still unreadable.

"Not all social workers are super dedicated to their work," Keith went on. "Background checks and screenings of foster families aren't always completely water-tight. Even though you don't get that much for taking in a foster kid, some people still only do it for the money. If you're unlucky you can just randomly end up with a foster parent that has a criminal record and a dangerous mental disorder. It sounds horrible, but it happens."

Lance felt his heart sink the longer he looked at Keith and listened to him talk. The look in his eyes was cold and closed off, distant. In moments like this he seemed so incredibly unapproachable, it reminded Lance of kindergarten all over again.

"I'm considered lucky." Keith continued dryly. "I aged out of the system and graduated high school. I ended up with a job that makes me enough money to live comfortably. I have people that care about my well-being." As he said those words, he finally met Lance's eyes again and some life finally entered his frigid gaze. "I don't know if I have any right to complain when my life is like this."

"Keith…" Lance decided to choose his words carefully, especially seeing how Keith was visibly trying to not let him in on what he was really thinking. It was frustrating whenever he did this, but it was simply an aspect of Keith that Lance had learned to somehow deal with. "Just because other people have it worse that doesn't mean you can't feel bad about what happened. It happened to _you_ , not _them_ , so other people don't matter." Lance almost felt uncomfortable when Keith stared into his eyes like he was trying to telepathically dissect his brain.

All of a sudden, Keith grasped the hem of the black T-shirt he had changed into earlier and, after a moment of hesitation, pulled the shirt up over his head. While he slid the shirt off his arms, he turned around so his now bare back was facing Lance.

Watching what was unfolding in front of him with a strange fuzzy feeling bubbling deep in his gut, Lance simply sat stock-still, waiting for Keith to explain himself. But then, inevitably, his eyes wandered down the pale expanse of skin in front of him. He instantly found the many small scars scattered around Keith's back in haphazard patterns; some were faded with age, some still fresh from his most recent traffic accident. Unconsciously, Lance sat closer and closer, his gaze eventually falling to Keith's lower back, where he found a strange circular scar that he couldn't quite identify. "What…" Confused and intrigued, Lance carefully ran his thumb over the odd-looking scar, feeling its jagged edges and the way it seemed to dip in a little, as though part of the flesh was simply missing.

"It's from a cigarette."

With a small gasp, Lance pulled his hand away as though it had been burned. "Sorry, I… I just…"

"I don't mind," Keith said quietly. "It's you, so…"

Feeling weirdly encouraged by the words, after some hesitation Lance began carefully tracing a few other scars with his fingertips. He steered clear of the newer ones that were still healing, focusing more on the old and barely visible ones that were so faded, he could only see them from this close. He had to suppress a laugh whenever he got to Keith's sides and Keith jumped a little in response. "Ticklish?"

"Shut up."

Despite the smile on his face, Lance couldn't quite hold back the tears that continued to gather at the corners of his eyes. One slipped out when he finally allowed the scars and their stories to process in his mind. So many scenarios for the origins of these scars ran through his mind, each more gruesome than the last. When Lance finally tore his eyes away from the scars, he buried his face in Keith's shoulder and let out a defeated sigh. He felt a hand burying itself in his hair and gently stroking his head in a comforting manner.

"You're not gonna ask?"

Lance almost let out a laugh again hearing how incredibly unbothered Keith sounded. It was frustrating and relieving at the same time how Keith could simply let anything negative and unpleasant pass by, seemingly without it affecting him at all. Whether it was real or a total act, Lance still wasn't quite sure. "I feel like I shouldn't." He felt some tension seeping out of his body when Keith continued somewhat clumsily stroking his head.

"When I was fourteen I was pushed into a window," he suddenly said, tone still neutral like he was simply recounting what he had eaten for breakfast. "A couple old scars are from that car accident in high school. Some I got from… people. And a couple are from… well… you."

Body going stiff with tension again, Lance suddenly remembered the countless times he had gotten into physical fights with Keith in school and the few times they had drawn blood. He also had a handful of scars from his many fights with Keith. "I told you about my fucked up pinky, right?" he eventually murmured into the nape of Keith's neck. He could feel him shudder a little at the contact. "We were playing soccer and I think you fouled me and scored a goal, so we got into a fight. I don't remember how it happened, but you ended up breaking two of my fingers somehow."

"Did I ever apologise for that?"

"No." A silence briefly stretched between them, causing Lance to raise his eyebrows a little. "You're not gonna apologise _now_?"

"Only if you apologise for the scar on my eyebrow. Do you know how often I've gotten asked about that in interviews?"

"You tell people it's from a hiking accident," Lance said with a small chuckle, pressing up further into Keith's back and wrapping his arms around his middle. "Like you've ever gone hiking, you couch potato."

"Not like I can say where it's actually from," Keith dead-panned, strangely making no move to get out of Lance's hold. "You chucked a golfball at my face, you lunatic. Where did you even get that from? We didn't have a golf club in school or anything."

Lance shrugged sleepily, happily taking in Keith's increasingly relaxed demeanour. "Just found it conveniently lying around somewhere." Somehow he could imagine Keith frowning at that without even having to see it. "Sorry. I guess. Even though I gave you a damn sexy scar."

"You don't think I find your weird goblin-looking pinky sexy? Think again." Although there was a happy lilt to his voice, his posture soon grew a little tense again. "I'm sorry too, you know."

Smiling into Keith's shoulder, Lance squeezed him a little to signal that he accepted the apology, half-assed as it was. "Are you ever gonna head to your actual bed or do I have to drag you there?"

"Princess-carry me at least, you brute."

"Only if you won't mind me dropping you at least three times along the way."

"If you drop me, I'm breaking up with you."

As Lance finally let out the laughter that had been tickling at his throat, Keith finally pushed out of his hold and stood up from the couch. Keith's previously neatly styled hair already looked like a bird's nest and the look in his eyes was weary and tired. Lance watched him slump away, then stopping in his tracks to turn around and direct an inquisitive gaze at him.

"You coming?"

Stunned by the question, Lance at first only listlessly stared in surprise. "What? To your bed?" When Keith simply nodded, messy hair flopping around his face, Lance unconsciously tightened one hand into a loose fist. "Um… if you don't mind…"

"Then get going already," Keith called over his shoulder, already heading off again. "I'm only gonna be awake for another five minutes or so."

Lance knew Keith wasn't joking, so he quickly rushed after him and nearly stumbled over his own feet. He tried not to think about the usual implications of staying over and sleeping in a bed with someone you're dating. He knew that definitely wasn't what Keith was aiming for and yet he couldn't help the strange tingly knot coiling deep in his guts. But as much as his mind was quickly going down the gutter – especially when recalling how hot Keith looked in a suit –, one look at the guy messily crawling under a blanket and staring back at him was enough. Keith looked like a ruffled, pissed off cat as he waited for him to join and all Lance wanted to do was to burrow into that bed and fall asleep next to him.

By the time Lance was getting comfortable on the bed, Keith was already drifting off to sleep next to him. Seeing any and all tension slowly draining out of him made Lance all the more sleepy. And so it didn't take long until he too was whisked away to a deep sleep.

* * *

When Lance opened his eyes, he wasn't confused about where he was. There was no brief moment of panic, no realisation that oh right, he wasn't home. After sleeping over more times than he could count, he had stopped being surprised at waking up in Keith's house long ago. What _did_ surprise him was the smell of food. Not reheated pizza or takeout, but _actual_ food. The warm smell easily coaxed him out of bed and sent him on a voyage towards the kitchen. Mind still hazy from sleep, it took him a while to actually navigate his way to the kitchen, but when he got there, he found Keith standing there handling a frying pan like he wasn't actually a huge slob who ate like a trash can.

"Since when do you cook?" Lance asked him in a tired drawl, lazily wiping a hand over his eyes.

"Sometimes I do," Keith shot back a little defensively, heaping whatever was in the pan onto a plate. Clearly, he _didn't_ cook a lot, because some of the food landed on the counter instead of the plate. "Here, eat."

Still not fully awake, Lance somewhat clumsily accepted the steaming plate Keith shoved at him. On it he found two pieces of slightly burnt toast and some scrambled eggs.

"The eggs might be too salty," Keith said quietly, like he was trying to hide the words.

Lance eyed the food suspiciously, mildly disconcerted over whether this was truly edible. "I won't be eating egg shells, right?" At Keith's telling silence, Lance's expression only grew more deadpan. "Well, if it tastes as good as it smells, it shouldn't be too bad." Seeing how Keith's eyes lit up at the words a tiny bit, Lance couldn't stop himself from breaking out into a fond smile that he quickly hid. He sat down at the counter with the food and, without hesitation, began shovelling the food into his mouth. Just as Keith had foreshadowed, the scrambled eggs were over-salted. The toast was so dry it sucked all the moisture from Lance's mouth, but together with the eggs it all tasted at least passable. And as hungry as he was, passable was more than enough for Lance. "Did you already eat?" he asked when he watched Keith putting away the frying pan.

"No, I'll eat something once I'm done taking care of some stuff."

The words instantly made all kinds of alarm bells go off in Lance's head. "What kind of stuff? How long will it take?"

Keith seemed to know where the conversation was going, since his eyebrows pulled together into an annoyed little frown. "Just… business-y stuff. Talking to lawyers and investors and stuff. Shiro's already busy just handling the media side and some of this stuff I gotta do myself."

"Keith…" Lance's concern-filled voice seemed oh so ready for a mother-hen rant about Keith needing to eat proper meals, which he seemed to pick up on instantly.

"Hey, wanna see something cool?" Clearly trying to deflect whatever Lance was going to say before he could say it, Keith did something to his phone, then set it down on the counter in front of Lance.

Ready to spit a nasty remark at Keith for so obviously trying to change the subject, Lance's attention was then instead captured by the endless amount of notifications that began to pop up on the phone. It continued vibrating for so long, Lance was beginning to wonder if perhaps the phone was simply broken and going through some kind of loop. "Is that all from last night?" he asked incredulously, unable to tear his eyes away from how fast all those notifications were passing by.

"Nah, just the past hour or so," Keith replied nonchalantly. "I've been up for a while just… calling people."

Lance wondered if he should pry, but knew he wouldn't get a straight answer out of Keith. Even now that they were dating, Keith seemed hesitant to talk about certain aspects of his work. He would casually bring things up, but only on a surface level. Anything that went deeper he would keep absolutely silent about. Letting out a small sigh when he wondered how long it would take Keith to just open up to him, Lance finally decided against questioning Keith. "You have two phones?"

Eyes focused on his phone now, Keith only briefly met Lance's inquisitive gaze when he nodded. "Personal phone and work phone."

Letting the revelation sink in, Lance felt a little spark of confusion bubble up. "I don't think I've ever seen you with your work phone."

"Cause I usually keep it somewhere where I can't hear it go off every two seconds."

 _Typical_ , was all Lance could think. Sometimes he wondered how Keith had made it at all in this industry. Ninety-nine percent of the reason why had to be Shiro. "You should give Shiro a raise, you know." When Keith sent him a nasty little glare for the jab, Lance only chuckled.

Their conversation died down somewhat from there. Lance quietly finished his breakfast while he watched Keith slowly pacing around his living room. He listened to Keith speaking to people on the phone, voice relatively neutral and composed the entire time. It was odd seeing him like this when Lance was so used to Keith being a sassy little shit in person and an arrogant, smug bastard in front of cameras. Even after a year since meeting him again, he still discovered new sides to Keith and it always made his chest feel a little too warm and tight. As he continued watching, he saw Keith grinding his teeth, something he had seen him do before but had never consciously registered in his mind. It happened so infrequently that Lance still wasn't quite sure why he did it. Keith occasionally grinding his teeth for seemingly no reason was simply one of the many things Lance didn't understand about him.

At some point Keith stopped pacing as he ended a call, then lowered the phone from his ear to look at Lance. "Aren't you bored?"

Shrugging, Lance shot a little smile at Keith. "It's fun to watch you."

Keith didn't know how to respond to that, giving Lance an incredibly bewildered and slightly flustered look. Not meeting his eyes, he returned to the counter Lance was still sitting at and took away the now empty plate.

The smile that had formed on Lance's face slowly faded when he watched Keith add the plate to his other dirty dishes that were beginning to pile up. "This was a really bad move, wasn't it?" Even seeing Keith from behind Lance could tell he didn't want to talk about this. His shoulders sagged as though he was letting out a sigh, but he didn't turn around to face him. "What if the movie gets bad press over this? What about the studio? What if they sue you? You didn't clear things with them, so they could totally sue for damages, right?" When Keith still didn't turn around, Lance only grew more frantic. "What about your album? If you lose out on sales over this, is your label gonna sue you? You _just_ signed a contract with them!" Still no response and Lance only continued to spiral. "And what about your sponsorships and brand deals? Some of those are gonna fall through now, right? I know you don't care about money, but…" Finally unable to hold his frustration any longer, Lance jumped out of his chair. "Keith! Don't you get that I don't want you to–"

"Lance!" Keith shouted, abruptly turning around to shoot a firm look at the other. "It's gonna be fine. Calm down."

Heart racing a little with anxiety, Lance eyed Keith's expression to gauge whether he was only pretending to be okay. "Why are _you_ so calm?"

"Cause I'm not as impulsive as you think I am."

There was a lot of weight to those words. There clearly was something Keith wasn't telling Lance about all this. And as much as Keith wanted him to simply stay quiet and not question him, Lance wasn't going to take this sitting down. He _needed_ answers and Keith seemed to finally realise that.

At first hesitant, it took Keith a moment before he finally began to talk. "I didn't just impulsively rush into this. I thought about it a lot, okay." Keith's voice was oddly soft, like he didn't even want Lance to hear him. "The movie stars an openly gay actor and the director has donated to LGBTQ causes, so I doubt anyone from the movie side is gonna sue. Showing up with a guy as a date to the premiere is probably the best publicity I could've given to the movie. They're definitely not _losing_ money over this." The words seemed to leave his mouth only reluctantly. "I could lose album sales over this, but I was already prepared to lose sales the moment I decided to take over the production and creative direction myself. You should know that."

"Then what about your label?" Lance immediately poked. Keith physically backed away, taking a step away from the counter in an unconscious attempt to run away. He broke eye contact, gaze lowering to the floor instead, which only prompted Lance to surge forward over the counter a little. "Keith…"

"They can try and sue me over this, but nowhere in my contract does it say I can't date a guy. Besides, I make them too much money for them to want to ruin that in any way. You should know by now that I can get away with a lot." Growing a little more relaxed seeing the beginnings of something like awe in Lance's eyes, Keith closed the distance a little again. "And any brand or company that drops me over this is just gonna get called bigoted. It would hurt their business more than not dropping me, but some of them are still gonna do it. Which is fine by me. If something like this is reason enough to drop me, I don't wanna work with them anyway." When he was only met with an unwavering look of befuddlement, Keith's smirk slowly faded. "What?"

As if woken from a trance, Lance's eyes lit up a little. "I'm suddenly really horny, dude," he blurted out without shame. "I've never heard you sound so smart and… and… like you _actually_ thought about all of this."

Keith only responded with an almost poisonous look. "You're ridiculous."

"I'm serious, don't ever go to college. I'll just nut instantly." When that finally made Keith laugh out loud, Lance couldn't help but laugh along. Sometimes it took a while to crack Keith's solemn moods, but whenever he succeeded, Lance felt that much more fond of hearing his laugh.

Once Keith regained his bearings, he turned somewhat concerned eyes on Lance, albeit still with a small smile remaining on his face. "Have you checked your phone yet?"

His previous happiness slowly draining away, Lance slowly shook his head. "I'm… kinda scared." He didn't have a particular thing he was fearful of. There was simply a certain dread bubbling in the back of his mind, one that flared up whenever he so much as looked at his phone.

"It's still early." As he said this, Keith was absent-mindedly tapping a rhythm on the counter. "Most people won't be finding out about us for a bit longer."

Nodding hesitantly, Lance picked up his phone and stared at its blacked out screen. Letting out a sharp breath, he finally turned it on. Like he had expected, there already were a few messages from people. Most of them college friends being surprised but also happy for him, but most of them from Hunk. He had called and texted him countless times, even left a few voice messages. "Hunk is really excited but also really worried."

"Figured," Keith replied quietly, mustering up a little smile. "What'd he say?"

"Half his texts are screaming at me in all caps to call him back already." Seeing the sheer amount of messages, Lance felt a little bad for silencing his phone overnight. He probably should have told Hunk that he was going to sleep over. Lance had also promised to keep him updated while he was at the premiere, but the moment he had stepped onto that red carpet, he had completely forgotten about everything other than staying close to Keith so he wouldn't drown in the chaos. "He also said I should check your social media ASAP." When he briefly looked up from his phone to see Keith's reaction, what he found was him clearly trying to hide something. "What did you do?" Receiving no answers other than a highly suspicious shifty gaze, Lance wasted no time seeking out Keith's social media. The moment he saw the newest post, he knew why Hunk was so insistent he check it and _especially_ why Keith was being so dodgy about it.

The post consisted of three photos taken at the premiere. One was of them walking out of the car holding hands. The next one was mostly of Lance speaking to reporters with a bright smile. The last one was of the two of them locking eyes and looking like the rest of the world didn't even exist. Lance didn't remember that particular moment, to be frank. Whoever had taken that photo was incredibly talented because it looked so romantic, it almost seemed fake. Meanwhile, the caption didn't make things any better.

"Nothing but a purple heart emoji?" Lanced mocked. "What are you? Eleven?"

"Shut up."

Lance delighted in seeing Keith so embarrassed. "And isn't this usually the part where you write this long sappy essay about how much you adore me and how much I significantly improve your life?" Lance broke out into loud barks of laughter the moment he saw the way Keith's face distorted in revulsion. "Hey, don't look so disgusted!" Once he calmed himself, Lance made to scroll through the comments, but suddenly found a hand covering his phone and nearly tearing it out of his hand. "What?"

Keith was looking at him with such a serious look in his dark eyes, it made the mood in the room shift completely. And not in a good way. "Lance… can you do me a favour?"

Suddenly worried at how unbelievably serious Keith seemed, Lance didn't even try to lighten the mood with a joke this time. "What is it?"

Letting out a small sigh, Keith slowly released Lance's phone again, but still seemed wary of him so much as having it in his hand. "Don't… look at my social media for a while. The comments, I mean. Don't read any articles about us and don't…" Another sigh left him, this one much more frenzied. "Just stay away from all that, okay?"

Lance took in the words and eventually shook his head in disbelief. "You don't think I can handle it?"

"That's not what I meant!" Keith immediately objected. "I just… I've been dealing with this stuff for _years_. I learned to just ignore it and not get affected by it. But I don't want you to even have to get used to this stuff in the first place."

"You're probably right," was Lance's immediate reply. "But, Keith… I'm not planning on going anywhere. I've made my decision, so I'll have to get a thick skin sooner or later. Might as well start now."

"Lance…"

Watching how Keith struggled to even find words to argue any further, Lance merely smiled. "I'll be fine, don't worry. It's not like it would be the first time." He immediately regretted his words when he saw the guilt briefly flashing over Keith's face. Granted, Lance's old rant articles about Keith had been entirely his own fault, but it was undeniable that the people that had made Lance's life a living hell for several weeks over them had been Keith's fans.

Lance suddenly hated that the counter was separating them, which prompted him to get off his chair and make his way around it until he stood in front of Keith, who gave him a somewhat quizzical look. Lance still felt awkward initiating anything physical with Keith, despite the fact that they were dating. Keith wasn't the cuddly type, that much Lance had always known. And now more than ever he felt like he understood why and it made hesitation take its roots in every action he took. Most of their few moments of physical intimacy had been initiated by Keith, fuelled by both of them needing some kind of comfort, some kind of point of connection to be able to ground themselves. Kissing had always happened in the heat of the moment, so kissing for the sake of kissing was simply not part of how they interacted. Lance knew Keith wanted him; he knew that for sure. Keith had been the one to come on to him first, after all. But faced with him now, in a relatively calm situation yet with a burning need to have him close sizzling in his gut, Lance almost felt dizzy with wanting to touch Keith but feeling like he shouldn't.

"What is it?" Keith finally asked with a small frown already planted on his face.

Worrying his lip for a moment, Lance considered just leaving to escape this uncertainty. "Can we… hug?"

Keith's frown deepened a little, confusion entering his eyes. "Why're you being weird about it?"

"I dunno, I just…"

Seeing Lance fumble like that, Keith seemed to take pity, a small sigh leaving him as his shoulders slumped in defeat. The frown melted off of his face, even though a hint of exasperation still remained. Wordlessly, he stepped forward and somewhat stiffly wrapped his arms around Lance's middle. Meanwhile, Lance didn't dare move. He felt like he was being hugged by a moody cat that would get angry and leave if he disturbed it even just a tiny bit. Suddenly, he could hear the low hum of the nearby refrigerator and smell the remnant fragrance of burnt toast, as though the world outside of this house didn't exist anymore and the only people left were him and Keith. After a while, when some of the tension finally left Keith, Lance finally let his arms slide around his shoulders and pulled him even closer. It was beyond gratifying that Keith could at all feel relaxed being in his arms like this. Lance couldn't even put a name to what he was feeling, he just knew this was something very special.

Keith eventually parted from him a little, loosening the embrace to give Lance a small peck on the lips. "Call me or Shiro if someone starts bothering you," he suddenly murmured.

Making himself comfortable by looping his arms around Keith's neck, Lance tilted his head at him in a puzzled manner. "Like who?"

"You know… reporters, fans, people in general. People know your face now."

Not missing the regretful tone of Keith's voice, Lance unconsciously pulled him a little closer again. He hesitated to speak again, but knew he needed to ask. "Will you tell me when something's on your mind?"

Keith became very still. His shoulders became a little tense again and he didn't meet Lance's inquisitive gaze. "I probably won't."

Lance had expected that kind of answer but it still stung to hear. "I wish you would."

Shoulders sagging a little, Keith almost visibly deflated; like he was admitting defeat to something. "I wish I could."

Letting out a small smile, Lance kissed the bridge of Keith's nose and broke out into a smile. "Guess I'll just have to learn to read your mind."

"Please don't," Keith shot back dryly.

The deadpan answer tickled a little laugh out Lance, who finally let go of Keith. His heart sank a little the moment he remembered that time was running away from them. This moment wasn't eternal. "I need to leave for work soon. My shift starts in an hour and a half."

At first motionless as he processed the words, Keith eventually dropped his gaze to the floor. "Yeah… I have three interviews for the movie and a photoshoot scheduled today. Shiro's probably gonna come pick me up soon."

Even though they both knew it was high time to part ways, neither quite had it in them to make that first step. This would be the last time they could be together like this for a while after all. They wanted this time to last longer, yet it was slipping through their fingers all too easily.

Lance eventually was the one to break the silence, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks." When Keith immediately looked up at him with that apologetic look in his eyes, Lance forced his smile a little wider. "Be prepared for a lot of sappy good morning and good night texts."

"Why do you have to make it so cheesy?" Keith bit back with a hint of disgust, although he was unable to hide the amused quirk in his lips. Even that soon melted away though, making way for eyes that cast over with regret. "I wish I could say I'll make time for you, but…"

"I get it," Lance cut in, desperately trying to stop Keith from spiralling into some kind of remorse-filled hole. "I'm used to it." Seeing Keith's expression only darken, Lance felt disappointment bubble up at his own inability to somehow easy Keith's worries. In fact, it felt like he was only making thing worse. "If I get real desperate, you'll just have to send me a nude or something."

Keith stared at him owlishly for a moment, before suddenly breaking out into laughter. "You sure you want that?"

Scrunching up his face a little at the thought, Lance shrugged. "On second thought… probably not. Dicks still freak me out. Maybe censor yours before you send me anything."

"Sure, if you censor your face in _your_ nudes."

Jaw dropping in mock offence, Lance theatrically placed a hand over his chest. "So you only want me for my body? Pervert!"

Keith simply narrowed his eyes in thought, expression contemplative. "Maybe censor your body too."

"Then there'll be nothing left, you asshole!"

"Perfect."

Despite his offended scowl, Lance couldn't hide the fact that he was desperately holding back laughter while he turned to leave. "Do your fans know you're an insufferable douchebag?"

"Yes."

Lance had been in the process of heading to the bedroom to change but almost lost his balance hearing the deadpan answer. Instead of rewarding Keith with a reaction, he simply power-walked away to hide the fact that he was grinning like an idiot, barely able to contain his laughter. As he headed upstairs, he realised that he had managed to have a somewhat serious conversation with Keith. Being the avoidant type when it came to this type of thing, Keith tended to masterfully evade questions about his own thoughts and feelings. But he had somewhat opened up to Lance. That simple knowledge put an extra little spring in Lance's step, filling him up with the kind of energy he hadn't felt in quite a while.

* * *

Lance quickly noticed that something was off the moment he got to work. At first, the aquarium was as crowded as it usually was around this time. No one even looked at him twice. His supervisors and co-workers did absolutely lose their marbles the moment they saw him, instantly bombarding him with questions about the news, which he answered only very selectively. With the promise of getting more answers out of him during break or after work, they eventually left him alone. Things took a turn when it was time for Lance to do a tour. It was the usual school class that greeted him, but among the group were several people that definitely weren't there to look at clownfish and manta rays. Lance tried to ignore them, but once they got to the jellyfish tanks, someone sneakily pulled a camera, thinking he wouldn't notice. If a handful of these guys had figured out his workplace in just a manner of hours, Lance didn't want to imagine what would happen once these guys released any articles divulging that information to the rest of the world. His supervisor had told him to let security know if he ever felt unsafe and he hadn't planned on going that far, but realising that this could potentially cost him his internship, he secretly motioned for the security guard that had been assigned to keep an eye on him for the day. He had found the whole thing excessive at first, but was now thankful for the help.

Without directly involving Lance, the security guard warned the people in question not to take photos of anything but the creatures in the tanks. Some of them protested, arguing that they had paid money to be there, but when faced with the threat of potentially being thrown out, they eventually caved. Lance could only breathe a small sigh of relief. As much as he wanted them gone, he didn't exactly want to anger people that could ruin his life if they wanted to. This entire situation honestly felt like he was trying to travel along a tight rope, where the slightest mess up could result in him dropping into a dark abyss. He had planned on high-tailing it back to a staff room the second he ended his tour, but two girls hesitantly walked up to him and seeing the looks on their faces, he could already imagine what they wanted.

"I wanted to ask you something," one of them asked in a hush, like they were discussing some kind of secret. "Are you that guy that's dating Keith?"

Lance refrained from letting out an incredibly exasperated sigh and instead put on a smile that he hoped was convincing. "Well… uh…" Before he could even talk his way out of the situation, the second girl cut her friend off.

"Stop, you're making him uncomfortable," she scolded her, already trying to push her away from Lance. "Sorry for bothering you."

Infinitely thankful for the more sensible friend, Lance managed a slightly less stiff smile as he watched the girls leave. The moment they turned their backs to him, he finally rushed away before the camera-wielding vultures could take even more secret snapshots of him. He had a sinking feeling it was already too late to completely stop those photos from getting out. He was in his work uniform, so the moment any photos of him were published, the whole world would know where he worked. On his way to the break room, he was spiralling into the beginnings of panic over what could happen in only a few hours. He had experienced being mobbed by the media once already and knew exactly how quickly things could go downhill.

Lance was so deep in thought that he almost didn't notice his supervisor already standing in the break room when he got there.

"Lance…" Her tone made it obvious she wasn't there for small talk. "I was about to look for you."

Gulping nervously, Lance awkwardly stood in the door, suddenly too anxious to actually enter the room. "Is something wrong?"

"Well… not yet," his supervisor answered vaguely. "It's just… we've never experienced anything like this, so we don't really know what to do or what to even expect. We'll keep an eye on things for now, but if your… _situation_ starts affecting your work, we'll have to pull you out of doing anything on the exhibit floors. You'll just have to clean in the back and do kitchen duty until things calm down."

As much as his supervisor was phrasing it like a hypothetical, Lance knew this was inevitable. The worst case scenario in his mind had been getting completely kicked for causing disturbances just by being there. In comparison, this outcome made him breathe a small sigh of relief. "I don't mind staying in the back for a while." He could see in the woman's eyes that she didn't want to punish him when he hadn't done anything wrong, but eventually she gave in and a defeated sigh came out of her.

"Fine. I'll see if maybe we can tighten up security a little, but I doubt it'll help. It's not like we can just ban people from entering." She gave Lance a sympathetic look tinged with a hint of pity. "Take your break early today. You look tired."

Lance could only nod lifelessly and watch blankly as his supervisor turned and left. He had told Keith that everything would be fine. He had told him that they would get through this together, that he was fine with Keith wanting to go public. But now the reality was hitting. Lance didn't regret his decision, but he was beginning to understand what being a public figure actually meant. He was already exhausted after a single morning of trying to avoid nosy reporters and very forward fangirls. He couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of stress that came with the constant attention that was on Keith. Lance usually loved attention, loved being the life of the party, but this was different. Excessive. Inevitable. Restrictive.

Suddenly, the urge to hear Keith's voice became so powerful, it almost made Lance stagger where he stood. All this still felt surreal. He still found it difficult to truly believe that anything in the past twenty-fours had actually happened. Even when he dialled Keith's number, he wasn't completely sure if his call would even go through. He was perhaps a little too well acquainted with the sound of the ringing going on and on until eventually he gave up and ended the call himself.

_"Lance?"_

"Oh, shit, hi," Lance babbled, caught off guard by the sound of Keith's voice. "I… uh… hi."

_"Um… hi."_

Noticing the weirdly stiff tone, Lance cocked his head in a puzzled manner. "Why do you sound weird? Are you filming something?"

 _"Well… yeah,"_ Keith replied hesitantly, tone still painfully rigid. Clearly, he didn't like whatever was happening on his end. _"I'm being filmed for an interview so I wasn't gonna pick up, but these guys wanted to ask you something too, so…"_

" _Me?_ " Now even more floored than before, Lance felt an odd mix of panic and exhilaration. "What did they want to ask? Put me on speaker!" He was no stranger to press interviews, especially after the premiere last night. He had seen the movie, even talked to a few crew members. No matter what question they threw at him, he had a feeling he could come up with a good answer.

_"I'm not putting you on speaker, you lunatic."_

"Awwww, you don't trust me?"

 _"I really don't_."

Before Lance could bicker back, he heard the conversation briefly going on without him, before he heard the female interviewer addressing him directly.

_"Hi, Lance! I'm Nadia from Atlas TV. Can you maybe tell us something about Keith that no one else knows about? Surely, you have some dirt on him."_

Lance had to suppress a chuckle. Even with all his earlier protests, Keith had put him on speaker after all. "Something no one else knows… Hmm…" Still grinning, he let the question run through is mind for a moment, trying to come up with an answer embarrassing enough it would annoy Keith, but one endearing enough it wouldn't actually harm him in any way. As he sat down in a creaky folding chair, the perfect thing came to mind and his grin grew sly and down-right villainous. "Keith _looooooves_ dog videos. I once found him watching a 50 minute compilation of huskies being overdramatic divas."

 _"Lance, you fuck!"_ came Keith's enraged yell, followed by what was probably the sound of Keith furiously turning off speaker mode.

Just imagining the scene sent Lance into a fit of laughter that made him almost fall off his chair. He could just imagine the interviewer being both amused and stunned, meanwhile Shiro in the background somewhere facepalming as Keith raged on.

_"The internet's gonna have a field day with that one, you ass-hat."_

Slowly regaining control of his breathing, Lance tried answering through the laughter that still tried to bubble up. "I can't wait to see the memes."

_"Did I do something? Are you taking revenge? What did I ever do to you?"_

"Your mistake was naively putting me on speaker thinking I wouldn't try to fuck you over."

_"I don't know what I was thinking."_

Hearing Keith's usual snark, Lance now was sure he wasn't on set surrounding by cameras anymore. As blunt as Keith was, his way of speaking and holding himself changed noticeably in front of cameras.

_"Did you just call to embarrass me or was there another reason?"_

_I wanted to hear your voice._

_Today was kinda tough._

_I miss you._

Lance felt like he couldn't say any of those things.

_"Lance, I need to go back soon, so–"_

"I'm still waiting on those nudes, dude. Don't leave your beloved boyfriend hanging like this!"

_"I'm hanging up."_

"Wait–!" Cut off by the telltale beep of the call ending, Lance couldn't help but break out into more badly suppressed laughter. Teasing and bantering with Keith was honestly one of his favourite pastimes. They could fall into a rhythm so easily and so quickly, it was comforting and reassuring all on its own. He didn't want to burden Keith with his own worries when he was so busy; simply hearing his annoyed and slightly tired comebacks was enough to lighten Lance's mood.

As he was musing like this, a message popped up on his phone and upon opening it, Lance found that Keith had sent a photo after all. "Middle finger. Classy." Perhaps it was a little odd that he was giggling like a schoolgirl over his boyfriend flipping him off via text, but to Lance it was precious. As strange as their relationship was, Lance had a feeling it would turn out just fine.

Little did he knew that he had barely scratched the surface of what it was like to date a celebrity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick, someone photoshop the distracted boyfriend meme with Keith, Lance and husky videos!
> 
> So yeah… this is it. For now. Apologies for any typos and errors; I edited this while half asleep. I don't have the story fully drafted just yet, so updates will be slow. I'm in the middle of writing my thesis, so progress has slowed down since I drafted the first few chapters. I'll try not to make the wait too long, so rest assured there will definitely be updates, even if they take a bit.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you guys think.
> 
> Edit (08/26/19): So someone actually made some of those Keith memes. You can find them [here](https://i.imgur.com/LK4NepL.jpg) and [here](https://i.imgur.com/UaKtN0g.jpg). Thank you, [Purple_Space_Cats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_Space_Cats/pseuds/Purple_Space_Cats)! We're going full meta, guys!!! By the way, [Purple_Space_Cats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_Space_Cats/pseuds/Purple_Space_Cats) also writes Voltron stories, so definitely check those out as well.


	2. I – vi – ii – V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, this chapter has been done for a while, but I unfortunately never got around to editing and posting it. Sorry about that.
> 
> By the way, in writing this chapter I basically created a plot hole in Oatmeal Cookies, so had to go back and edit OC. By the time I realised, I'd already written way too much to fix things in this chapter. I doubt anyone will notice the change, but it did create massive plot hole. I also added a sentence or two in the previous chapter that will be important later on, but, again, I doubt anyone will really notice the difference.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Going to work through the backdoor still felt odd to Lance. He liked arriving in the morning and greeting the security guards as he stepped through the front entrance. When he was early enough and no guests were around yet, he would exchange little pleasantries with them, have some small talk, enjoy their little inside jokes. It was a nice start to his work day. But now he had to sneak in through secret entrances like some kind of criminal, hiding himself so he wouldn't bring unwanted attention and cause a disturbance. As Lance had feared, articles about him and where he worked had been published and within a mere day or two, more and more scoop-hungry vultures stormed the aquarium. By the third day of this commotion, entire teams were trying to get in with cameras and audio equipment, but were luckily not allowed inside. Lance dutifully stayed in back rooms and away from any exhibit floors, spending most of his time doing food prep and cleaning work. The only time he got to say hi to his beloved lady manatee Livia in peace was in the early morning; his shift tended to end way before closing time, which would have been the only other opportunity. Overall, Lance actually didn't mind the attention itself too much. He had no problem speaking to reporters, even if all they wanted was for him to give them a scoop. The problem was that he didn't want any of this to affect other people, namely his co-workers. Lance had prepared himself for this. His co-workers, on the other hand, had not. Lance was grateful he hadn't gotten kicked out over this, which only exacerbated how guilty he felt.

Mindlessly gutting and cutting up fish all day, Lance could feel himself gradually going a little stir-crazy. The persistent fish smell had by now soaked into every fibre of his being so deeply, he was sure it would never disappear again for the rest of his life. He was used to his hands smelling a little fishy, but not to being absolutely drenched in the smell.

The door to the kitchen suddenly swung open and in walked one of the other two interns, Ryan, his stupidly handsome face as expressionless as ever. "Still hiding in here, huh?"

"Yup," Lance replied lifelessly, hacking off the head of a fish with perhaps a little more power than was necessary.

Some pity entering his eyes, Ryan patted Lance's back comfortingly. "I'll take over for a bit. Go get some fresh air."

Sighing to himself a little, Lance stilled, unsure whether he really should be taking a break when he hadn't even been working for that long. Eventually, he decided he really did need to breathe actual air instead of the slightly rank odour of fish feed. He nodded silently and pulled off his rubber gloves, before throwing them in a bin and giving Ryan a small pat on the shoulder in return. "Thanks." Ryanresponded simply with a curt nod, already in the middle of neatly cutting up fish. To Lance's mild dismay, Ryan's work was much neater than anything he could ever achieve.

The moment he stepped out of the kitchen, Lance's mind felt a little less muddled. He didn't do well with monotonous and repetitive tasks; it made him lose his sense of awareness, his mind drifting off to somewhere that definitely wasn't work-related. Rubbing over his exhausted eyes, Lance checked his phone and realised it was around the time Keith had mentioned would be good for a quick call. As he debated whether to go outside or to the break room, Lance dialled Keith's number. He half-expected him to be busy after all, but was pleasantly surprised to hear him pick up almost right away.

_"Hey."_

Feeling some of his stress melt away already, a small smile curled Lance's lips. "Hi." He let the greeting hang in the air for a moment, briefly content simply knowing he was connected to Keith somehow. "What're you up to? Still filming that interview where you play with puppies?"

 _"No, we wrapped on time,"_ Keith replied in his usual near robotic drawl that meant he was either bored or tired. Over the phone he sounded extra mechanical. _"You know your little stunt a couple days ago is still haunting me, right? Shiro just posted a photo of me on this dumb floor with all these puppies climbing over me and it's already the most popular thing he's ever posted. I fucking hate the internet."_

"Bless that man. Shiro knows exactly what we all want."

 _"Me covered in puppies?"_

"No, you being humiliated." Lance finally decided not to head to the break room, but to go outside just for the sake of getting proper air in him. On his way there he got to listen to Keith going off about Lance's "little stunt". Without Keith knowing, the video of his recent interview had gone online, including Lance's phone call in the middle. Unfortunately for him, Shiro hadn't at all veto-ed the part of that fateful interview where Lance had revealed his oh so shameful secret to the world.

 _"I watched_ one _dog video! One! You caught me that one time and now the internet is all over it!"_

Lance stretched a little, his smile only broadening hearing how genuinely annoyed Keith was. "Don't lie. I know you watch those videos religiously every night before going to sleep. You think I'm deaf? You think I can't hear those little shits barking through your headphones?"

_"I hate you so much."_

Hearing the resignation in Keith's voice only made Lance laugh. He finally made it to the door that lead out to the staff parking lot and continued laughing while pushing it open.

 _"How's work been?"_ Keith asked with a little sigh.

"Fine," Lance replied dryly. "I'm still working in the back. They'll leave after a while, right? The reporters."

 _"They should."_ Keith sounded so nonchalant, it almost seemed sarcastic. _"They'll probably lose interest after about a week. By then something else more juicy than some regular dude in an aquarium should pop up."_

Lance was about to tell Keith that there was _nothing_ more juicy than himself – and how dare he even suggest otherwise –, when he saw people rushing towards him. "Oh no."

_"What is it?"_

Gulping nervously, Lance considered going back the way he had come, but then he saw the camera already pointed at him. "I went outside to the parking lot to get some fresh air, but a couple reporters spotted me. They have a camera and everything."

_"Just go back inside."_

Lance was speechless for a moment. He knew he was totally in his right to simply avoid these people, but something about that felt off. "I don't want to run away though. It's not like I'm ashamed or anything."

 _"I still don't think you should let them talk to you._ "

Lance couldn't help but sigh. He knew Keith was only worried about him, but sometimes it felt like he had zero faith in him. "Look, we met these guys at the premiere. I know they're fine to talk to."

_"If you say so…"_

"I'll keep you on the call so you can listen, happy?"

_"No, but it's not like I can stop you anyway."_

"True." As much as Lance was trying to put up a confident and upbeat front, his heart rate was growing faster with every step those reporters got closer. He could feel the hand his phone was in beginning to tremble, so he quickly hid it in his pocket, careful not to accidentally end the call with Keith.

The reporters had broken out into a little jog now, already waving at him with friendly smiles.

"Lance!" a microphone-wielding woman greeted him when she reached him. "Good to see you again!"

Putting on his friendliest business smile, Lance politely waved back. "Likewise. Plaxum, right?"

"Oh, you remember!" Plaxum exclaimed with a gleeful smile. "I'm surprised."

"I would never forget the name of such a pretty lady," Lance shot back. "Besides, I've written a couple articles for Luxia Magazine and there wasn't a single conference call where Florona _didn't_ eventually end up gushing over you. You two know each other from college, right?"

Caught off guard, Plaxum absent-mindedly lowered the microphone in her hand a little. "Yes, we do!" She was beaming, but her smile soon faltered a little. "We haven't been in touch though."

A suggestive grin instantly bloomed on Lance's face. "You should probably call her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it _a lot_."

Plaxum sheepishly averted her gaze and let out an equally flustered little laugh. "Maybe I will." She seemed to finally remember why she had even approached Lance, the cameraman and audio technician behind her briefly glancing at each other with knowing looks. "So, Lance! I just wanted to catch up with you. Things have been pretty hectic the past couple days, haven't they?"

"Oh, for sure," Lance immediately replied, his friendly smile never wavering. "I've been getting hoarded left and right. It would be okay if it was just me that was affected, but it's starting to cause disturbances at work too and that's not great, obviously."

"Are you surprised at all by the response from people?"

It was odd to be asked these questions when Lance had been taught to ask similar things. Granted, he had never actually gotten the opportunity to professionally interview celebrities before. Interviewing celebrities in an official setting was an entire minefield of laws and regulations, especially when it came to union actors. It usually wasn't something a mere college student could take on. "I kind of expected the media buzz and the articles and everything, but it's still overwhelming being in the middle of it."

"I see. So how is Keith supporting you through all this?"

Lance had to school his expression to not show how much Plaxum intimidated him with her bluntness. He hadn't been lying when he said that he had heard a lot about her. Plaxum wasn't quite up there with more well known reporters, but within the industry at least she was infamous for being approachable and able to quickly make people warm up to her, but not hesitant in getting straight to the point. "We talk a lot on the phone. We're both busy people, but we still manage to find time to chat." He could already tell that the conversation was being steered more towards Keith and his thoughts. Lance was relatively unimportant in all this; everything there was to really know about him, people already knew. What people truly wanted to know about was Keith.

"I'm really curious how you two ended up together," Plaxum continued. "You were both pretty coy about it when we asked you during the premiere a couple days ago."

"That's just cause there isn't much of a story." Lance shrugged, feeling the reassuring weight of his phone in his pocket. The knowledge that Keith was there, even if it was only through the phone, was immensely comforting. "We've known each other since kindergarten, lost touch for a while, then we met again by chance and things kind of developed from there."

Plaxum was nodding along, but the look in her eyes made it clear she was already thinking up the next question to fire off. "You don't happen to have any interesting anecdotes to tell from your shared childhoods, do you?"

Remembering his earlier conversation with Keith, Lance couldn't quite fight off his amused grin. "I have some, but I think I've embarrassed Keith enough for one week. Maybe ask me again some other time."

"I definitely will then," Plaxum replied cheekily. "One more question: you have been very open about your opinion on Keith in the past. What exactly made you change your mind about him?"

Lance had expected and dreaded this question. A part of him had hoped it wouldn't come up, but with how Keith and him had outright ignored this question during the premiere, there now was less leeway for him to get out of this. There were no other reporters with easier questions he could turn his attention to, no Keith to simply shut down anyone that got too eager to pry. To not make things worse, he _had_ to answer. "I… wouldn't say anything in particular changed my mind," he began carefully. He hadn't actually talked to Keith about this, so he was relieved that he could hear it straight from his mouth now. "I just realised that I was unhappy with myself and taking it out on someone else. It's not a fun way to spent your time. Sometimes all it takes is talking to a person to let go of a lot of your assumptions about them." 

Plaxum's expression remained neutral, a pleasant smile on her face at all times. "That's a nice answer."

Lance managed a half-way genuine smile, heart still racing over that last question. Based on how the gleam in Plaxum's eyes only seemed to intensify with whatever question she was cooking up next, Lance got the feeling he should probably eject himself out of this situation. Fast. And based on what he had seen the last few days, he knew there were probably quite a few reporters just waiting at the front entrance. He knew he needed to do something to stop this parking lot from becoming the next hot stakeout location. "Just a warning, this parking lot is meant for staff only. You guys should probably get going before someone sees."

"Oh, we didn't notice!" Plaxum exclaimed, eyes widening in shock. "Sorry about that."

As good as Plaxum was at maintaining her expressions, Lance could tell she was lying through her teeth. These guys had clearly trespassed onto this parking lot knowing they weren't allowed to be there. "I'll keep this a secret this one time, but I can't save you if security catches you some other time. Make sure to let the guys out front know that too."

"Thanks, we will," the reporter said in response, a somewhat knowing gleam in her eyes. Clearly, she was hesitant to leave, but had no way to justify staying any longer. "Appreciate the warning. And thank you for taking the time to talk to us. See you again, Lance."

"No problem. See you." As he watched Plaxum and her little team leave, Lance allowed himself to finally heave a small sigh of relief. Once they were out of sight, he wasted no time pulling his phone out of his pocket and going right back to talking to Keith. "Did you hear all of that?"

There was no response at first, despite the call still being active. But after a short silence in which Lance impatiently kicked at the asphalt, Keith finally spoke up. _"Yeah. I heard."_ His tone was incomprehensibly neutral, no noticeable emotion ringing in his voice. _"You know, I'm starting to think you might be better at being a celebrity than me."_

"Well, you don't really set the bar all that high." Lance heard an indignant grumble and had to suppress a laugh. Keith would actually hang up on him if he did. "Are you done with today's round of interviews yet?"

Keith let out a frustrated sigh that sounded a little distorted through the phone. _"One more and then we need to get on that flight for the late night talk show appearance later. I won't be getting back to the hotel till way past midnight."_

"They're really whoring you out for this movie, huh?"

_"Oh yeah."_

Lance could hear how tired Keith was. It hurt to not be able to be near him when he was having such a hard time. Shoulders sagging a little, he began to make his way back into the aquarium. "Make sure to sleep on the plane."

_"It's just a two hour flight. I'd rather work on songs in that time."_

"Keith…" Lance immediately rumbled in a warning tone.

_"I don't–"_

"I'll tell Shiro to confiscate your laptop." He could hear Keith grumbling again, eliciting an amused smile from Lance.

_"Fine, whatever. If anyone asks why my next album is so late, I'll blame you."_

Reaching the door, Lance broke out into a satisfied grin. "Good boy."

 _"I'm drop-kicking you the next time I see you, scrub."_ With that, Keith abruptly hung up.

"Asshole," Lance mumbled as he pushed open the door, although there was absolutely no malice to it. In fact, he was still smiling. But now that his connection to Keith was gone, reality set back in and seemed to instantly cave in over his head.

On his way back to the kitchen, Lance felt a sense of anxiety brewing in his gut when he imagined how his words were going to go out to the world for all to hear. He felt like he had done fairly well in that impromptu interview, especially considering it had snuck up on him like that. He was sure he hadn't provided anything that could be grossly misconstrued and used against him, but you could never be fully certain about that kind of thing. Someone somewhere would for sure find a way to somehow cast him in a bad light over his words. Lance hadn't even looked at any social media since the news about Keith and him had broken. Even though he had told Keith he would simply grow a thick skin and go on this journey with him, he was still scared of what people would say. He knew himself enough to know that having any kind of hate comment directed at him, let alone an entire barrage of them, would probably crush him. The fact that he was incredibly insecure had been made obvious to him long ago. He didn't need strangers bringing him down even more.

Suddenly, Lance wished he could have Keith there in person to vent to him about this. Even when he entered the kitchen and took Ryan's place cutting up fish, he could almost feel a void opening up in his gut. The need to have Keith close paired with the knowledge that he wouldn't see him for at least another two weeks was almost unbearable. It continuously ate away at him, fraying his nerves and sapping all his energy. Unbeknownst to him, the knife in Lance's hand stopped moving.

"Keith…" Lance murmured, the void growing with every second that he pictured just how far apart they were.

How much further could he possibly fall from here?

* * *

"Is the cap really necessary?"

Suddenly self-conscious, Lance pulled the dark-blue baseball cap down further into his face. "I do get recognised a lot lately, you know. I just wanna eat in peace."

Pidge continued shooting him that scrutinising look, but eventually shrugged. "I guess it hasn't sunk in for me that you're dating an actual celebrity. I haven't even met Keith yet, so to me he still seems like this surreal and abstract concept of a person."

Quietly thanking Hunk for holding the door to the diner open for him, Lance had to suppress a little sigh. He would have loved to properly introduce his boyfriend to his friends, but seeing how Lance himself barely got to see him, that seemed like an incredible impossibility. Even just going out with his friends to eat like this was difficult with how busy _they_ all were with college or work. He couldn't even imagine a reality where his friends and his boyfriend somehow crossed paths. That one time where Keith had been in his apartment and had met Hunk by chance felt like a distant and hazy dream now.

"Hey, Lance," Hunk suddenly spoke up hesitantly. He waited until he had Lance's attention before continuing. "Isn't that… your ex?"

"What?" When Lance glanced to where Hunk was pointing, his breath got stuck in his throat and his stomach dropped hard enough it almost made him dizzy. Not too far away, in one of the window booths of the diner, sat a mesmerisingly gorgeous blonde. Her long, flowing hair was pulled up into messy pigtails, sunlight shining in from outside and shimmering across the golden strands. The cropped burgundy turtleneck she was wearing accentuated her slim figure and showed off her toned midriff.

Lance gulped when he realised that oh yes, that was definitely his ex Nyma and oh no, she had somehow gotten even hotter since the last time he had seen her.

"That guy doesn't seem like her new boyfriend though," Pidge soon added.

Finally tearing his eyes away from Nyma, Lance actually took in the situation at hand. Some guy was uncomfortably close to Nyma's table, talking down to her in an agitated tone while she sat there with a scowl that only deepened by the second. From the little sentence fragments that reached Lance, he knew right away what was going on. "Come on," he suddenly murmured to his friends, his body moving before he could even think about it. His heart began racing a little, especially when the guy grew louder and more upset, his body growing tense with frustration.

"I told you, I'm waiting for someone!" Nyma insisted, fists balled on top of the table. "Just fucking leave–"

"You've been sitting here a while though," the guy cut her off, making to sit down in the seat across from her. "I'll just–"

"Hey, Nyma!" Lance called out, smiling and making his way over like nothing was going on. "Sorry, we're late. We got stuck in traffic for a while." Coming to a stop next to the now visibly pissed off guy, Lance sent him a friendly smile. "Can you move? We wanna sit, you know."

The guy stood there staring Lance down for a moment, before clicking his tongue and roughly pushing past him to sit elsewhere. Releasing a collective sigh of relief, Lance, Hunk and Pidge filed into the little booth silently, Nyma pointedly keeping her gaze down.

Once everyone was settled in – with Lance across from Nyma – and after taking a little sip from her drink, Nyma finally met Lance's eyes. "Thanks," she said quietly, holding his gaze for a moment before looking away again.

Lance managed a half smile, but couldn't quite reply back. His jaw felt fixed in place, as though he wouldn't be able to utter a single sound even if he tried. It took him mentally willing his body to obey his commands again, but eventually he didn't feel like his voice was stuck somewhere in his gut anymore. "That was really fucking scary," he said with a nervous little laugh. "For a second there I thought he was gonna beat me up."

Taking another sip from her drink, Nyma intently stared at Lance for a few seconds. "You didn't have to do that. What if I was actually waiting for someone?"

Chin propped up in his hand, Lance pushed the cap out of his face a little. "You go out to eat by yourself whenever something's on your mind. I figured today was just one of those days."

Nyma's eyes widened in surprise for a only a moment, before she pouted with a frown. "Why would you remember _that_ of all things?"

When the following silence stretched on uncomfortably long, Hunk began squirming where he sat next to Lance. "We could uh… you know… leave you two alone if you guys wanna talk or something."

After a brief moment of consideration, Nyma simply shrugged. "I don't care. It's not like we have much to talk about. Right?"

With Nyma's pointed look directed at him, Lance could only shrug as well. Luckily for him, a waiter came by to ask their orders, saving him from having to give an actual response. Him and Nyma hadn't exactly parted on good terms. They had been friends for a while before ever dating, but once they had started, their romantic relationship had not lasted long. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering they had decided to date on a mere whim. Lance's playful and jokey flirting had at some point worn Nyma down to the point she had ended up asking him on a date of her own accord. Things after that had gone well… until they hadn't.

"I saw your boyfriend on TV last week," Nyma suddenly spoke up. Her drink was empty by now, so to busy herself she was drawing little patterns onto the table with her finger. "One of those late shows. Don't remember which one."

"Yeah…" Lance's throat felt unbelievably dry. "He mentioned flying to that."

Nyma suddenly smiled when she met Lance's eyes. "You guys look cute together."

Surprised by how genuine the words were, Lance couldn't help the embarrassed smile trying to break out on his face. "Thanks." When the food arrived soon after that, Lance finally noticed how Nyma's eyes kept shifting to her phone. "You dating anyone right now?"

A little caught off guard by the question, Nyma didn't answer right away. "Well… yeah. I guess." When Lance sent her a _look_ , she rolled her eyes with a hesitant smile. "He works night shifts at a hospital so we don't really have a lot of chances to see each other."

"I feel you," Lance replied before he could stop himself. Looking at Nyma, he could tell they were both a little shocked at how easily they were falling back into the friendship they had lost after dating. "I haven't talked to Keith in two days. He's pretty much spending all his downtime working on songs."

"That's pretty shitty of him."

Hearing the blunt words, Lance's eyebrows crinkled a little in thought. He had gotten so used to Keith barely having time for anything but work that not being his top priority was something Lance had expected when they had started dating. Still, there had to be a limit to how much Keith could prioritise his work over him, right? "It… is. Isn't it?"

The silence that settled between them wasn't awkward or tense this time. They all simply ate their food in peace, Hunk and Pidge quietly chatting with each other. But not before long, Nyma's eyes met Lance's and they both knew they had to address the elephant in the room. Hunk and Pidge seemed to sense the thickening tension, so the moment they both finished their food, they excused themselves and walked off towards the little arcade machine in a corner of the diner. They pointedly kept their attention on the game instead of glancing back towards the two left in the booth.

Being the more forward one out of the two, it was Nyma who spoke up first. Her eyes met Lance's and this time she firmly held his gaze. "Listen… I know we probably can't go back to the way we were before we dated, but… I miss you as a friend, you know. It's not like I regret us dating but… had I known I would lose you as a friend over it, I wouldn't have asked you out."

Lance had expected to feel heartbroken all over again if he ever met Nyma. Throughout their relationship he had developed genuine feelings for her, but then it had all ended up in a huge flaming mess that had left him hesitant to give relationships another try. At least for a while. But talking to her now that his wounds had healed, it was surprisingly easy. After all, he had often mulled over what he would say to Nyma should they ever meet again. "It wasn't all your fault," he began carefully, absent-mindedly nibbling on a fry as he stared out of the window. "I was really insecure and couldn't trust you. I was so convinced you would leave me if someone better ever came along and it just… paralysed me. I was terrified all the time."

Eyes wandering to what was happening outside, joining Lance in listlessly staring outside, Nyma managed a dry smile. "I don't blame you, to be honest. I never told you how I felt. I never made you feel secure. Whenever something bothers me I just… go out by myself and stress eat to try and somehow bottle up my feelings. I know I shouldn't. I know it's important to _talk_ in a relationship, but…"

Finally tearing his eyes away from the little fountain outside the diner, Lance found Nyma already staring back at him. "It's not like I ever told you anything either. We just… didn't work together. That's all."

With the words finally out, all their cards on the table, a peace seemed to settle between them. Any hard feelings had eased away long ago, any animosity that had once existed gone. They were both at ease with where they were in life, both having learned their lessons from their failed relationship.

"I really do miss just… talking to you," Nyma said with a half smile. "I think it's actually kinda funny how well we work as friends compared to how disastrous we are in a relationship." She stole one of Lance's remaining fries and smirked back at him when he shot her a less than pleased look. "You still have my number?"

Hesitating briefly, Lance shook his head. "I deleted it from my phone but I still remember it."

"Same here." Nyma had her eyes on Lance's fries again, but backed off when he dramatically covered them with his arms. She couldn't help but giggle at his mock upset frown. "Feel free to call me if you ever wanna vent about your celebrity boyfriend. We can be venting buddies."

Even though Lance knew it was probably not right to feel this way, he couldn't deny that the thought of having Nyma back in his life made him a little happy. He truly did miss just hanging out with her. She was incredibly fun to go partying with, the type to get you to try out new things you never would have done otherwise. She was also someone you could confide in about pretty much anything. She was the exact person Lance would want to consult about relationship problems, especially considering she was one of the only people in the world who understood how Lance operated in a relationship. "Sure," he eventually answered. "Next time you wanna stress eat, just call me instead."

Nyma finally laughed a genuine laugh, something like relief shining in her eyes. Seeing that, Lance felt oddly at ease despite the storm quietly brewing in his mind. This entire conversation had kicked up old memories, had made him remember just how bad he truly was at relationships. It made him wonder if he could even maintain a relationship with Keith if they did have the time to meet up more regularly. The fact that it had taken them about a year to get together, despite being attracted to each other almost from the start, spoke testaments of how dysfunctional they were together. Lance's current relationship with Keith may be more dysfunctional than his relationship with Nyma had been. Perhaps the distance was the only thing keeping their relationship alive.

By the time Hunk and Pidge returned, all the food was gone and they were all able to have normal, tension-free conversation. Lance tried to remain present, but found his mind constantly wandering off to thoughts of Keith. It was beginning to scare him how much he truly cared about the guy. Lance couldn't help but imagine what would happen if what had gone down with Nyma ever happened with Keith. Misunderstandings piling up, eventually becoming so insurmountable that no amount of talking seemed to solve anything. He dreaded the thought.

Eventually, Nyma seemed to notice his absence of mind and turned her attention away from discussing her favourite restaurants with Hunk to Lance. "What're you thinking so hard about?"

A little bashful over being figured out, Lance desperately tried to find a way _not_ to talk about Keith. As much as he wanted to vent to Nyma, they had only just met after years of not seeing each other and with both Hunk and Pidge there, he didn't want to unload all his relationship issues on her immediately. "Just… curious how Rolo's doing," he blurted out, instantly regretting his words when he saw Nyma's face drop. Rolo had bullied him in school, but he had also been friends with Nyma since way before Lance had even met her. Now that he was older, Lance figured that perhaps Rolo had always been jealous of anyone that got close to Nyma and had resorted to violence because of it. Still, despite Rolo's garbage personality, Lance couldn't help but wonder. "He kinda disappeared off the face of the earth a couple years ago. Do you know anything?"

Gaze dropping to the table, Nyma began agitatedly stirring the strawberry milkshake a waiter had just brought her. "I haven't really heard from him either," she murmured in an oddly dark tone. "He just…" Suddenly, a sharp sigh tore past her lips. "I don't even know if he's alive, Lance."

Floored by the words, it took a moment for Lance to find his voice. "Oh," he mumbled quietly, vowing to never bring up Rolo around Nyma again. It didn't seem like she even wanted to think about him at all.

Some time passed before the silence dissipated and regular conversation picked back up again. Both Hunk and Pidge quickly warmed up to Nyma again, which was no surprise seeing how they had been friends with her as well before the breakup. One of Lance's biggest regrets in his failed relationship with Nyma was that not only had his friendship with Nyma ended, but so had the friendship she had shared with Hunk and Pidge. Although they hadn't been best friends by any means, they had both lost a friend over Lance essentially being young, dumb and too flirty.

Despite the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, Lance's thoughts quickly wandered back to Keith and musings over how long they would be able to maintain their relationship in its current state, if at all. He was ready to take on whatever hardship needed to keep things going, but as time passed and against his better judgement, he was beginning to think that Keith wasn't putting in the same kind of effort. Lance couldn't blame him, of course, what with him being booked left and right. And yet Lance couldn't simply turn off the doubts bubbling in his mind. When a frustrated sight left him, Hunk and Pidge sent him questioning looks, while Nyma seemed to recognise the cause of the sigh, eliciting a sympathetic look from her.

Seeing that, Lance couldn't help but wish Keith was that responsive to his worries.

* * *

The manatee area was silent when Lance arrived there at the end of his shift. Safe for the quiet lapping of the water and the low humming of nearby machinery, it was almost deathly silent. Not having guests around to make noise seemed almost unnatural, especially in a room that was usually used for shows and presentations. After rolling up his pant legs, Lance carefully dipped his feet into the water and sat down at the edge of the pool. When he turned around to reach for one of the carrots he had brought, the door swung open to reveal a familiar handsome face.

"Hey, James," Lance greeted the other intern, carrot in hand. "What's up?"

James stopped a few feet away from the pool, eyes trained on the seemingly empty pool. "Nothing much. Shift's over and I wanted to check on Livia. You too, huh?"

Lance nodded silently, then turned his attention back to the pool below. He didn't have to wait much longer for something to happen. A manatee appeared below his feet, the sound of a person near the water having lured it out of its tank. When it spotted Lance, it slowly and leisurely swam upwards until it broke through the surface with its snout, shooting little droplets of water all over Lance when it breathed out. "Hey there, beautiful," Lance greeted the manatee, chuckling a little when his hand was immediately nibbled on by a bristly snout.

"Oh wow, she really _is_ attached to you," James commented, a small pout forming on his face. "She never comes out for me."

Laughing at how genuinely insulted James sounded, Lance tried feeding the gentle giant in front of him a carrot. "Livia's a shy girl, you know. She won't just open her heart to anyone. Especially not to guys that criticise her weight."

"She _is_ overweight though," James immediately argued. "Everyone secretly gives her treats, so it's not that surprising."

"See, that's _exactly_ why she doesn't like you." Lance said it with a smile, but it soon faded when Livia continued to ignore the carrot he was holding out for her. "She's still not eating."

A long sigh left James as he crossed his arms. "It's the second day now, huh? Has she eaten anything at all?"

"A little here and there. But nowhere near how much she usually eats." Finally giving up on the food, Lance began stroking Livia's head, which only prompted her to immediately roll on her back and demand for belly pats. Lance, of course, was happy to oblige. "They're gonna take another look at her tomorrow." He shot a grateful smile at James when he leaned down to give him a comforting pat on the back.

"She'll be fine." James, evidently recognising Lance's worsening mood, decided to change the topic. "I saw your boyfriend on TV earlier while I was on break."

"Oh, really?" Even though he was worn out from work, the mention of Keith both energised and exhausted Lance. "Was it another talk show?"

"Something like that, yeah. It was about the movie he's in. Or at least it was supposed to be."

A dry little laugh escaped Lance. "Let me guess, the host kept deviating from the movie to ask about his personal life, so he got pissed and tanked the whole thing."

"Pretty much," James chuckled. "I think the death glare he gave that host would scare just about anyone. He looked ready to walk out when she kept asking if he was gay now, you know. And then she got really flustered when he called her out on trying to fish for a scoop instead of asking him about his work."

"Yeah, that sounds like him." Smiling to himself, Lance watched Livia turn onto her stomach again, but not leaving his side.

A small shudder seemed to run through James' body as he recalled Keith's infamous scowl. "Remind me to never piss of your boyfriend." After checking his watch, James then quickly made his way to the door, already waving goodbye at his fellow intern. "It's late, I'm off. Don't stay too long. You know we're not supposed to just hang out here for no reason."

"Yeah, I know." Although he said it, Lance already knew he wouldn't be leaving here for a while. He used to be able to come visit Livia during his breaks or right after shows; sometimes one or both of the other manatees also came out for more treats. But now that he had to basically hide himself, his time with Livia had drastically decreased. He still got to see his favourite animals everyday, but it was depressing regardless. When Livia snorted at him and shot more water droplets at him, presumably for not paying enough attention to her, Lance finally laughed genuinely. "Sorry, sorry. I'm all yours." 

Just as he said that, his phone rang in his pocket, forcing him to retreat his hands out of the water and dry them off before he could actually take out his phone. "Keith," he murmured with an air of surprise when he saw the name on his display. Suddenly nervous, he accepted the call. "Hey…"

_"Hey…"_

It had been yet another two days since Lance had last even heard Keith's voice. Back when they had simply been friends, not hearing from each other for an entire week or more had been normal. Not seeing each other face to face sometimes for months on end had been the norm. The distance had been comfortable. But now that they were dating, every day that passed without any communication at all was torturous.

"What's up?" Lance asked, a little distracted by Livia blinking up at him with those adorable button eyes of hers.

_"Just wanted to ask how your day was."_

Letting Livia nibble at his leg, Lance leaned back and braced himself against the floor with his free hand. "Same as always. Mostly did food prep. Cleaned a lot. What about you? I heard your talk show thing went completely down the drain."

 _"Don't remind me,"_ Keith grumbled. _"I keep telling Shiro to not have me booked for these shows but noooo I need to go on and let them question what I do with my life when it has shit to do with what I'm actually there to talk about."_

Managing a half smile, Lance's eyes wandered upwards to stare at the ceiling, watching the reflections from the water dancing across the teal surface. "So what's next?"

_"No more interviews, finally. Just a radio thing and then a bunch of meetings about the tour next year. I also rented a studio so I can actually start properly working out the songs and recording vocals and stuff. I could go to my label but… I don't like being there."_

Eyebrows immediately creasing together at the strange tone, Lance briefly wondered if he should ask why Keith didn't like being at his label. He probably wouldn't receive an answer even if he asked though. And Lance wasn't in the mood to pry. "Guess that means we still won't see each other for a while."

Keith was silent for a few seconds, clearly sensing that something was off. _"Are you upset?"_

When asked so bluntly, there really was no way for Lance to weasel his way out. "A little." He could somewhat imagine the frown that was probably on Keith's face now. "I know you can't do much about it, but… it sucks that we can't meet. It sucks _a lot_."

_"Yeah… I know."_

The loud _'I miss you'_ rang out for both of them, despite neither actually saying it. It was slowly becoming unbearable how badly Lance wanted to just _see_ Keith in the flesh. He didn't even watch television anymore and purposely avoided social media simply so he wouldn't come across Keith and end up missing him even more.

_"Lance, um…"_

The sudden shift in tone instantly sent alarm bells ringing violently in Lance's head. Keith _never_ sounded this unsure and lost; it was practically unheard of. "What?"

 _"Well…"_ Seemingly unable to form a full sentence, a frustrated sigh left Keith. _"I don't know if you've kept up with social media at all, but apparently a lot of people think our relationship is fake and that I'm only dating you for publicity."_

It took quite a bit for Lance to even process the words. Never in a million years could he have expected a sentence like that. How could he? It wasn't normal to have your relationship – something that really should only matter to the two people involved – scrutinised and judged by so many other people. "That's ridiculous."

 _"That's what I said, but what we think doesn't seem to matter to anyone. I didn't want to tell you this, but my PR team tried completely denying our relationship at first. They tried to publish a statement saying we're_ just friends _, but um… I… threatened them into not doing it."_

Lance was beginning to feel mental whiplash from these back to back revelations. "Wha– How did you threaten them?!"

_"Well imagine a PR manager's worst nightmare. I don't remember exactly what I said, but it might've been something along the lines of 'I'll punch someone the next time I'm on live TV'. They know I would do it."_

Facepalming now, Lance was conflicted over whether he should praise Keith for so fiercely defending their relationship or if he should yell at him for being such a stereotypically wilful celebrity. "Well, apparently they didn't have to publish a statement at all, since people are convinced we're faking it anyway."

 _"About that…"_ Keith was hesitating again, clearly reluctant to tell Lance any of this, _"my PR team already came up with a really dumb strategy."_

Suddenly remembering that Livia existed, Lance dipped his free hand into the water for her to nibble on. "I'm listening."

Sighing again, Keith grumbled something inaudible, before explaining. _"It's just your typical PR bullshit. Having us go places together and tipping off contacts in the media so people will be there to take photos of us. Stuff like that. I think it's pathetic to call paparazzi on yourself, but what do I know?"_

Lance suddenly vividly remembered the time Keith had explained fake relationships in the entertainment business to him. It was ironic to think that those same tactics could be used to also prove to the public that a relationship was genuine.

_"They're already setting up this club date thing for this weekend. I told them we don't need that shit, but–"_

"I'll do it."

Suddenly deathly silent, Keith's shock could be felt even through the phone. _"What do you mean, you'll do it?"_

"I'm saying I don't mind going to this club thing with you, even if it's fake." Lance sounded nonchalant, but in reality his entire face felt impossibly hot. He tried to sound bold and confident, despite the fact that his heart was racing impossibly fast.

_"Lance, listen, this isn't–"_

"It helps get people off your back _and_ we get to go out together. I don't see any downsides."

Keith went silent yet again, clearly still hesitant to give in to Lance. _"It would be completely staged."_

"So? Does it matter as long as we're together?"

Keith had no counterargument to that, which eventually prompted him to sigh in resignation, his voice growing much softer when he spoke again. _"Fine. We'll do it. I'll text you once everything's sorted out."_ There was a small pause in which another voice, though severely muffled, could be heard on Keith's end. It sounded vaguely like Shiro. _"Sorry, gotta go."_

"Yeah," Lance murmured back, suddenly feeling dazed. "See you this weekend."

A brief pause, then Keith's voice finally had a hint of joy in it. _"Yeah. See you."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A kinda short chapter this time, sorry. To make up for it, the next chapter is really getting out of hand and it looks like it'll be almost twice as long as this one. I'll try to finish it within the next month.
> 
> On another note, [Purple_Space_Cats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_Space_Cats/pseuds/Purple_Space_Cats) actually went and made those Keith memes from the last chapter. I've linked them in the end note of the previous chapter, so definitely check them out. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think! Reading comments is always such a treat.


	3. I – vi – IV – V

Lance, usually one to keep his room relatively neat and tidied up, was beginning to absolutely drown in his own mess. Shoes were scattered everywhere, shirts and pants thrown over his bed and all kinds of accessories laid out on his desk. The floor wasn't even visible anymore, every inch covered in some kind of clothing item. That he even had this many clothes startled him. Considering his financial situation, having this many clothes to choose from was a blessing. Lucky for him, Lance's older sister, Veronica, took him shopping once or twice a year. Out of their family, he was the only one who actually thoroughly enjoyed clothes shopping, so she didn't mind paying for everything. Even though it did sting his pride a little, Lance was grateful.

Taking one more look at himself in the mirror, Lance finally stepped out of his room to walk in front his two friends who were lifelessly slumped on the couch watching a mindless reality show. "How's this?"

Hunk _tried_ to look enthusiastic at Lance's eleventh or so outfit, while Pidge had already given up, simply eyeing him with nothing but exasperation and tired disdain.

"Don't you need to leave soon?" Pidge grumbled, nearly melted into a totally horizontal position on the couch.

Suddenly nervous, Lance glanced at his wristwatch. "Shit, yeah." Growing more and more panicked, Lance frantically turned and looked down at himself. "This looks fine, right? I don't look like I'm trying too hard or anything, right? I–"

"Lance, you look great!" Hunk cut him off, his smile a little stiff. "I'm sure Keith will like anything you wear."

Despite wanting to explain that this wasn't entirely for Keith, Lance decided to simply accept the compliment. "Thanks, buddy." Even though he had experience with going to clubs, Lance found himself incredibly nervous, a chaos of thoughts constantly rampaging through his mind. The excitement over getting to see Keith again after weeks of not meeting him paired with the genuine fear of messing things up for him in some way… It all mingled into a whirlwind of disjointed emotions that left Lance feeling in turmoil at all times.

"Didn't he tell you some kind of dress code?" Pidge asked, body now halfway on the floor somehow.

"I doubt Keith even knows what a dress code is," Lance grumbled on his way back to his room, taking one last look at his outfit in the mirror: a loose, collarless black shirt with a white flower pattern, which Lance found oddly calming, tucked into black jeans and paired with a silver necklace that almost fit around his neck like a choker. Hopefully it would do. "I'm kinda scared he'll show up in pyjama pants and flip-flops. I hope Shiro can at least wrangle him into something an actual human would wear. I swear, sometimes Keith dresses like he's some shapeshifting cryptid who's never worn human clothes before." One more look at his watch told Lance that he really needed to get going soon. Hastily stepping into a pair of glossy black boots and stuffing a few essentials into the too small pockets of his tight jeans, he finally made his way to the door. "I'll probably be late, so don't wait for me! I'll message you if anything comes up! See ya!"

"Have fun!" Hunk shouted after him, Pidge mumbling some kind of incoherent farewell next to him.

The moment he was on his way out, Lance's heart began thumping against his ribcage as though it was trying to burst out of his chest. By this time, Keith had to already be outside somewhere in his car, waiting to pick him up. Lance's face went hot when he realised that he had never been picked up like this for a date. It had always been him doing the picking up and driving around, albeit it had never been his own car. It was nice to not have to do that for once, to simply have someone there waiting to take him somewhere nice.

Lance stepped outside into the crisp night air and was immediately relieved that it wasn't too cold – his outfit did not include a jacket after all. After taking a few deep breaths, he made his way towards the street, heart still racing incessantly. Even his hands were beginning to shake a little; enough that it made him feel a little ridiculous. This felt like he was going on a first date, despite the fact he had met up with Keith countless times before over the past year. Only this time… they were dating. And it was the first time they were seeing each other again after making it official. Gulping, Lance couldn't help but wonder whether Keith was this nervous. He couldn't be, right? He was a performer, someone used to thousands of people watching him on stage. He was in front of cameras almost every day of his life. Someone like that had to have nerves of steel.

Suddenly, Lance was on the sidewalk, eyes almost automatically zoning in on the dark red jeep sitting on the street to his left. Inside, he could see a face partially illuminated by a phone screen. Even from this far away, Lance could tell right away who it was. It took all his might not to run, to not dash for that car like it was a glass of water in a desert. Despite his efforts, he couldn't stop himself from nearly jogging all the way to the car. When he got there, he somewhat clumsily opened the door and stumbled his way inside with a gasped out "Hi". The moment he turned to look at Keith, he was met with a look of bafflement.

Keith's eyes seemed to move over every single inch of Lance's face, like he was confirming that he was actually real and not some kind of hologram. He had a lollipop in his mouth, the stick peeking out from between his lips. But when Keith's eyes trailed down to where the top two buttons of Lance's loose shirt were unbuttoned to reveal part of his chest, there was a loud crack that echoed through the car.

"Did you just… bite through that lollipop?" Lance asked him incredulously, suddenly feeling shy under Keith's intense gaze. He received no reply, Keith seeming too busy ogling Lance. "Keith, my eyes are up here!"

Keith immediately snapped out of whatever daze he had been in, the now bare lollipop stick dropping from his mouth. "Wha– Yeah. I know that." Frowning, he picked up the lollipop stick and stuffed it into a random compartment. "Y-You just… surprised me. Since when do you dress like this?"

"Um… I dress like this whenever I go to clubs. It's not that strange." As offended as Lance tried to sound, he couldn't hide the smile that wanted to creep onto his face. Keith was so obviously flustered, it made all his earlier fear and stress evaporate. And with the initial shock of meeting over, Lance finally got to actually take a good look at Keith. Luckily, he wasn't in pyjama pants and flip-flops. In fact, he actually looked surprisingly fashionable. His black jacket and jeans were simple enough, but the white button-down shirt he wore underneath was so oversized that its sleeves peaked out of his jacket, nearly covering his hands entirely, while the bottom reached the middle of his thighs. For a moment, Lance revelled in the fact that they were matching, both in black and white. "You look nice." When Lance saw those deep dark eyes soften at the compliment, his heart melted a little. "Did Shiro dress you?"

Keith proceeded to give him his absolute worst stink eye. "I hate that you didn't even for a second consider the possibility that I might've dressed myself."

"Well, did you?"

The stink eye wavered, but did not disappear. "No comment."

 _Speaking of Shiro…_ It had taken him a while to notice, but Lance finally realised that besides Keith, no one else seemed to be around. "No Shiro?"

"No Shiro," Keith replied calmly. "Just us."

Lance's throat went dry at the realisation that this was their first time out in public as a couple by themselves. The one time they had been together in public, Shiro had been there to keep an eye on everything. Now they were by themselves. A hand on his cheek suddenly brought Lance back to reality, his eyes immediately finding Keith's.

"I'm not dreaming, right?" Keith murmured in an absent-minded tone.

Unable to form words when faced with the unreadable look on Keith's face, Lance simply shook his head. He could feel Keith's thumb brushing over his cheek, then slowly wandering down to his jaw. The atmosphere shifted almost palpably, the air between them suddenly growing thick and heavy, buzzing with electricity. When Keith's fingers passed over his lips without actually touching them, Lance finally realised Keith was hesitating. Why, he didn't quite understand. To stop Keith's fingers from moving elsewhere yet again and before he could stop himself, Lance wrapped his lips around Keith's thumb, biting down a little to stop him from moving. He heard a small gasp and released Keith again, glancing up to see his reaction. Immediately, he found an undeniable hunger sizzling in Keith's eyes. It seemed to seep out of his every pore, taking over every molecule of air in the car.

"Come here," Keith ordered, already leaning in and pulling Lance closer with a hand on the back of his head.

Lance happily obliged, meeting Keith in a searing kiss. It was sloppy and uncoordinated, hands sliding around clumsily as both struggled to find purchase in the car. Keith was as fervent and intense as ever, the heat of his body all-encompassing. Lance gasped into his mouth when Keith suddenly pulled back on his hair gently, breaking the kiss but staying close enough their foreheads touched. For a moment, all they did was to hotly pant into each other's mouths as they gradually caught their breaths. Lance's eyes were glued to Keith's kiss-swollen lips, desire pooling in his gut like lava. When he glanced up and saw how wrecked Keith looked already, a thought suddenly hit him.

"Are they already here?" he asked quietly, running a hand over Keith's shoulder and down his arm.

"Who?"

Hearing Keith's husky voice from this close almost made Lance dizzy with the burning need to continue what they had been doing. "You know… the paparazzi and stuff."

Keith grew silent, clearly hesitant to answer the question. "Does it bother you?"

 _He didn't say no_. Lance only had to think about it for a moment, before shaking his head. Although he would be lying if he said that it didn't bother him at all, Lance knew that he would have to get used to these things sooner or later. There really wasn't any room for him to be troubled. His train of thought was interrupted when Keith leaned in for another kiss, this one much gentler. Keith being so careful and slow absolutely made Lance melt, all tension leaving his body, any worries flying out of his head. Lance found himself mesmerised by Keith's shoulders, the way the muscles moved and shifted under his fingers.

The one to pull away this time was Lance, who reached up to softly run his thumb over Keith's slightly swollen bottom lip. "You taste really sugary," he remarked, giving Keith one last small peck. "Just how much candy did you eat?"

Keith immediately frowned back at him, _pouted_ almost. "Not that much."

With a deadpan look, Lance pointedly glanced downwards to where countless lollipop wrappers lined the floor of the car. "You're such a bad liar," he chuckled, pushing Keith's mouth open so he could see inside. "Your tongue's bright red too." His hand then travelled to the back of Keith's head, where he tangled his fingers into his messy as ever hair. Keith unconsciously leaned into the touch when he began to massage his scalp, causing Lance's smile to broaden a little. "What's up with all the lollipops anyway?"

Eyes fluttering slightly with the temptation to close at Lance's ministrations, a frustrated sigh left Keith. "Shiro took my cigarettes and gave me those instead. Said I should find healthier ways to relieve stress. Guess I'll take diabetes over lung cancer."

Laughing dryly at the remark, Lance watched as Keith visibly slumped into his seat, looking ready to fall asleep right there and then. "Have you sleep at all?"

Keith seemed a little conflicted over how to answer, as if he was unsure whether he should be honest or not. "A little."

"You have dark circles under your eyes, you know." Receiving no answer other than a weak half smile, Lance frowned. "Are you okay?"

The fact that Keith was actually thinking about his answer was already quite telling. "I'm fine," he said quietly after a while, voice barely above a whisper. "I just feel like I've talked enough for a whole year. I didn't know that promoting a movie would be this exhausting."

The smile that was on Lance's face slowly faded away, leaving him looking contemplative. "We don't have to talk while you drive, you know."

"But–"

"I don't mind," Lance cut him off, putting on a reassuring smile as he let go of Keith and settled back into his seat.

Slowly, his reluctance eased away and Keith's shoulders eventually sagged in defeat. "Sorry. And thanks."

"You're more attractive when you don't open your mouth anyway."

They both knew that if they were not outside, somewhere where there was the danger of being photographed, Keith would have totally smacked Lance for that. "I swear, one day I'll actually launch you into space."

Lance simply laughed and made himself comfortable while Keith started the car, still with a mildly annoyed frown. From there, the car ride went by in relative silence. As much as Lance wanted to ask Keith all kinds of things, about the interviews, the TV appearances, the many premieres in various places, he could tell that what Keith needed at the moment was to not have to think about anything at all. After all, work was probably the last thing he wanted to be reminded of. And so, Lance simply stared out of the window, watching as the moonlit scenery passed by outside. At first he was nervous that people might recognise Keith and cause a scene, but people were too busy with themselves to pay attention to who was sitting inside a random car. As they drove, they delved deeper and deeper into the centre of the city, where the sidewalks became busier and the lights brighter. Eventually, Keith parked the car in a narrow alley between two buildings.

"We're there," he murmured, voice strangely low, sounding like he had just woken up from a nap.

"Got it." Suddenly feeling nervous again, Lance hesitated. But with Keith already opening the car door and stepping out, he had no choice but to follow suit. Lance almost stumbled over his own feet, but eventually managed to actually stand on the sidewalk without looking like a fool. "Oh wow, this street looks fancy." Lance could tell at a glance that this was a go-to destination for anyone with money wanting to party the night away. It was decently busy, the various restaurants and bars that framed the street on both sides looking relatively high class even from the outside. But most importantly, there were several lines of well-dressed and fashionable people waiting to get into different clubs.

"Come on."

When Lance's gaze jumped back to Keith, he found a hand being held out for him. At first puzzled, Lance shot Keith a quizzical look, which only made the pop-star shake his open hand at him in a demanding manner. "Oh…" Lance murmured under his breath, finally grasping Keith's hand. "I didn't think…" It was the first time since the premiere that they were holding hands. And despite the fact that their relationship was completely open to the public now, Lance still found himself trying to hide. They had spent months hiding from the world, meeting up where no one could find them, their time together only between them. It was odd to suddenly be out in public on a sidewalk holding Keith's hand like this. Luckily, the semi-darkness as well as the flashing lights from various neon signs made Keith difficult to recognise at first glance.

By the time Lance noticed movement out of the corner of his eyes and turned to look, Keith had already pulled their interlaced fingers up so he could kiss Lance's hand. The feel of his warm lips and his breath fanning over his hand sent the kind of sudden jolt through Lance that almost made him falter in his step. He had to swallow an embarrassed screech.

"Do you really have to play it up that much?" Lance whispered incredulously, feeling his entire face go hot.

"Huh?" Even when he ran his thumb over one of Lance's knuckles, Keith sported a slightly too innocent expression. He watched Lance for a moment, the way his eyes jumped around as if searching for something. Or _someone_. "You know, I just like touching you," he eventually explained, giving Lance's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Your reactions are cute."

Hiding his burning face behind his free hand, Lance couldn't even look at Keith anymore; he was afraid of even more mortifying words coming out of his mouth. From a distance he could hear the telltale click of a camera, but tried not to pay it any mind. "How can you say this shit with a straight face? Is it some kind of boyfriend harassment gene?"

"No, just years of experience not caring what people think about what I say."

"Why do you sound proud about that?" Lance sighed, finally calming down enough to drop his hand from his still burning face, before actually looking at Keith. "What club are we going to anyway?"

Instead of answering, Keith merely jerked his chin at something a little ahead of them. "It's in there. You need an invitation to get in, so not just anyone is allowed inside."

The building Keith pointed out looked a little less flashy compared to the ones surrounding it, but it certainly still had a very distinguished air to it. Like a smooth black gem among a pile of multicoloured crystals. When they got there, Keith lead Lance up a flight of stairs, before stopping in front of a strangely bland metal door. Shooting Keith a puzzled look, Lance simply watched as he knocked on the door five times in a strangely distinct pattern. A mere second later, a beep sounded, followed by the mechanical sound of the door unlocking. Intrigued but also nervous, Lance followed suit when Keith walked through the door into a narrow entranceway. A reception desk of sorts stood to the right, bathed in pink and purple light. The desk was flanked on both sides by two men that looked like they could crush watermelons with their bare hands.

"Oh, Keith!" the receptionist cheered, looking ready to jump out of her chair. "Haven't seen your cranky face in a while."

"Yeah. Hi." Robotic and dismissive as ever, Keith clearly didn't share the receptionist's enthusiasm.

"Want anything _special_ today?" she asked with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. "You brought your boyfriend to have some _fun_ , right? We have just the–"

"Ezor," Keith cut her off, tone sharp. "I just want a room for later, that's all."

"Oh woooow, Keith taking his darling to a private room. That's new." Eyes sparkling now, Ezor clasped her hands together with a mocking smile. "Is this what they call _true love_?" Seeing how utterly unamused Keith was, she finally sighed and dropped the act, speaking in a monotone voice tinged with exasperation. "Fine, whatever. You can have the candy room. I don't think anyone's using it tonight."

Lance only saw the key Ezor handed Keith for a second, but in that brief moment he could tell it was special. Befitting a room that was called the 'candy room', it was powder blue with some sort of fancy keychain that was several times longer than the key itself. That was all he saw, before Keith turned towards him to grasp his hand and pull him towards the door that would lead into the actual club.

"Use protection, you guys!" Ezor called after them cheekily.

Face flushing with embarrassment instantly, Lance subconsciously tightened his grip on Keith's hand. It didn't help at all when in the next moment, Keith turned towards him to whisper into his ear.

"Don't worry," he said, voice intoxicatingly low. "We don't actually have to do anything. It's more about us spending the night here and leaving the next morning wearing the same clothes."

Unable to answer verbally with how tight his throat suddenly felt, Lance simply nodded. He was a little mortified at how Keith's breath trickling over his ear and neck made him all light-headed and weak in the knees. His mind was so occupied with Keith's mere presence that he almost didn't notice the floor trembling beneath his feet or the heavy thrum of music already permeating the air. He came back to the present when Keith let go of his hand to push open the door and Lance was met with what looked like the inside of a sci-fi fever dream. The club was fairly packed, but not to the point that Lance couldn't even see the interior. Everything was lit up in neon blue and red light, even the bar to the left emitting its own illumination. The walls were completely covered in mirrors, which only made the inside seem that much bigger – it was still quite early after all. The furniture and the interior in general was very geometrical, all clean lines and curves. Behind the bar, monitors lined the wall and constantly played abstract animations spliced into live action footage. It all screamed futuristic and _expensive_.

"So this is the type of place you go clubbing?" Lance asked in a hush, subconsciously sticking close to Keith's side.

"Well… one of a couple. I got banned from a lot of clubs, remember?"

Wondering if he would ever get used to the feeling of Keith's whispering into his ear like that, Lance tried to ease his suddenly racing heart. "What did you do to get banned from so many places anyway? I never asked."

"I don't… really remember. I was pretty drunk for a lot of it. I probably got into fights with people and stuff. Shiro knows more, but he won't tell me."

Lance merely hummed in response, wondering if he should look up articles from that time. He had so far avoided even thinking of that dark time in both of their lives, but perhaps it was time to face it.

Keith suddenly stopped near the dance floor, where a crowd was already moving to the beat of the music humming through the club. "Do you wanna dance?"

When Lance turned his head towards Keith, their faces were close enough he could have easily stolen a kiss. So he did. "You look like you really don't want to." He could feel Keith sliding a hand over his lower back and unconsciously leaned into him. He kept his hands in his pockets, but felt tempted to let his hands run all over Keith. It was getting increasingly difficult to play it totally cool; especially with people already off in corners and at tables _cozying up_ to each other.

"I'm just… tired."

The words felt oddly ominous and heavy, as though they had some kind of deeper meaning Lance wasn't understanding. Keith didn't seem in a particularly bad mood either, so he wasn't entirely sure what to make of the words. "So no dancing then. Wanna just sit and hang out instead?" When Keith simply nodded, Lance grasped his hand and began pulling him up a flight of stairs that was lit entirely by red light. 

The second floor of the club looked out at the dance floor, couches lined up along the walls and sitting in semi-darkness. They were mostly lit up by small lamps on the little cylindrical tables, which only provided enough light for whoever was sitting on a couch to see each other. The blue light of the entrance area and bar was completely gone now, everything entirely basked in a deep crimson. But rather than heading for one of the couches right away, Lance pulled Keith towards the railing above the dance floor. Although he didn't seem enthusiastic about standing any longer, Keith didn't protest and let himself get pulled around.

"It looks even crazier from up here," Lance commented, glad the music wasn't so obnoxiously loud he had to yell over it. While the lights below slowly shifted from icy blue to dusky violet, the music changed to something a little more exciting, something that slowly pulled more and more people to the dance floor like it was magnetic. "It's so different to other clubs. I thought a club you go to would be way more chaotic, but it's weirdly chill."

"That's cause I prefer places where I can take a nap if I have to."

The retort made Lance remember that Keith had indeed requested for a private room of sorts, which made him wonder what they were going to be doing in there. Simply thinking about it made his heart race, but not entirely in a good way. He jumped a little in surprise when Keith suddenly leaned in to nip at his jaw.

Feeling Keith's hands slowly wandering up his arms, his chest pressing against his back, Lance reacted with a sharp intake of air. "You–"

"Oh, Keith!"

Interrupted by the approaching voice, Keith only stepped back from Lance a little, sliding one arm around his middle instead. "Oh, it's you," he greeted the stocky man, who was surrounded by a small entourage of people in suits.

"Still as rude as ever, I see," the man spat, his too wide smile growing tense. "I have a name, you know."

"What do you want, _Lubos_?"

Lance immediately reached out to grab Keith's hand and squeeze it, signalling him to settle down.

"I heard you're working on a new album," Lubos said with an expectant gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah, so?" A frustrated sigh left Keith when Lance elbowed him for his dismissive tone.

Lubos seemed hellbent on maintaining a neutrally friendly expression, but was very obviously failing. "I just figured I'd offer my help if you ever need it. I think if we worked together, we could produce another hit. Don't you think so?"

"Not really, no."

Realising there was no saving his boyfriend, Lance decided to give up and simply watch. As much as he disliked Keith's approach, this Lubos guy did give him an off feeling, something unpleasant and dark. No wonder Keith didn't want anything to do with him.

Agitatedly clenching his jaw a few times, Lubos swallowed his obvious frustration. "I heard you're not using the studio your label provided you?"

"I guess." Keith responding with a half-hearted shrug only served to increase Lubos' growing ire.

"Why go through all that trouble?" Lubos asked, still trying to maintain his calm facade. "You're always welcome to use my studio. You know that."

"No thanks."

His friendly smile almost utterly crumbling now, Lubos struggled more and more with hiding his disdain. "I've told you this before, Keith, but that mouth of yours is gonna keep getting you into trouble. I'd watch out if I were you."

Uncertain whether he should feel relieved or concerned, Lance watched as Lubos and his entourage finally walked off with an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. "Why does his name sound familiar?"

Keith eyed him momentarily as though he wasn't sure whether Lance was joking. "He owns Olkari Studios."

Lance's mind went blank for a moment as he stared into Keith's eyes, which were totally devoid of emotion, before muffling his own scream of surprise. "Keith! How– He… And yo-you–! _Keith!_ "

"What?"

Seeing Keith so nonchalant, Lance couldn't help but simmer down right away. "How can you talk to him like that?! Didn't he produce a whole album of yours?"

"Yeah. It was hot garbage."

Lance wanted to facepalm, but barely refrained from actually doing so. "Still… is that enough for you to talk to him like that?"

"It's not," Keith admitted after a small pause. "He's just a really shitty person in general."

Waiting for Keith to elaborate but receiving nothing but silence, Lance turned to lean into Keith's line of vision and meet his eyes. "You're not gonna tell me why you think that?"

Searching Lance's curious eyes, Keith eventually shook his head. "I'd rather not," he said, tone solemn. "There's things you're better off just not knowing."

As much as Lance wanted to make him talk, he knew Keith would never tell him about all the dark sides of the entertainment industry. And even though his curiosity felt limitless, Lance was afraid of finding out things he never wanted to know. And before he could descend further into the gloomy corners of his own mind, Keith wordlessly guided him away from the railing and towards one of the couches. They unceremoniously plopped down on the soft cushions and immediately sank into the couch with relieved sighs, Lance sliding an arm behind Keith's head, while Keith grasped Lance's thigh in a somewhat possessive gesture. When Keith gave his thigh a squeeze, Lance almost let out a little gasp, anticipation immediately sizzling through his body. So when Keith's burning gaze slid towards him, any remaining hesitation left Lance's mind. It barely took seconds for the air between them to grow hotter and heavier than it had been all night.

When their lips met this time, it was greedy and hungry, an explosion of their weeks of helplessly longing for each other. With so much pent up frustration fuelling him, Lance had no problem keeping up with Keith's fervour. Completely lost in the rumbling thrum of music and the glow of red light washing over him, he didn't even notice Keith's hand wandering further up his thigh. Lance was too busy exploring the inviting, warm inside of Keith's mouth with his tongue instead. Every little moan and gasp that came from Keith made Lance care less and less that they were out in public. He knew he was being incredibly loud and shamelessly moaned into Keith's mouth, knowing the sound would get drowned out. The music blasting through the club was loud enough the vibrations still drummed through his body despite being on the second floor, away from the big speakers around the dance floor. An indescribable heat rushed through Lance when Keith pulled him closer by the back of his neck, deepening the kiss even further. Keith being a walking furnace made the feeling of his tongue sliding over his own that much hotter, completely robbing Lance of the ability to form a coherent thought. He was surrounded by Keith's intoxicating scent, the heat of his body bewitching.

"I guess the rumours were true."

Lance completely ignored the voice at first, so caught up in Keith that he barely even heard it. But Keith broke the kiss and simply looking into his stormy eyes, Lance knew he was pissed off. So before Keith's mood could get any worse, he placed another chaste kiss on his lips. A promise for more.

"Luka…" Keith mumbled, as though he was only then remembering the girl's name, still in a daze from the kiss. "What do you want?"

The moment the redhead's thin smile turned into an annoyed pout, Lance recognised her. She was a relatively well known actress, having started out as a model and recently starring in a few movies that were huge box office hits. Still young and considered an upcoming actress, she seemingly had a bright future ahead. Lance's heart rate instantly picked up, his entire head going hot at the realisation that this celebrity, someone he had previously only seen on the internet or in movies, had watched him make out with Keith like the world was about to end and it was their last night together.

"I just thought you two looked like you were enjoying yourselves," Luka replied, her smirk dazzling even in the semi-darkness of the club. "Mind if I join?"

Keith's hand returned to Lance's thigh, giving it another possessive squeeze. "I'm not into that kinda stuff."

Immediately, Luka's expression morphed into one of exaggerated surprise. "Oh really? That's not what I remember."

Lance was entirely lost by now, the feeling that he was missing something overwhelming. He knew Keith was hiding a lot from him, especially things related to his life as a celebrity, but it always surprised him just how deep that abyss of secrets seemed. Sooner or later, Keith would _have_ to reveal at least part of the things he was hiding. How else was Lance supposed to find any kind of even ground with Keith?

"Do you need anything else?" Keith shot back curtly, expression stony. Clearly, he wanted this conversation to end as quickly as possible.

Luka simply shrugged, crossing her arms. "I guess I wasn't expecting a yes from you anyway. We all know you're a huge stick in the mud when it comes to having fun. Unless, you know…" With the way her and Keith were exchanging telling looks, there for sure was some sort of silent conversation going on that Lance simply wasn't understanding. "But what about your little boyfriend?" Her suggestive gaze slid towards Lance, who was still quite starstruck and seemed unable to take his eyes off her. " _He_ seems interested."

Lance could feel Keith's eyes burning into the side of his head, his thoughts now racing, heart merrily hammering away in his chest as he tried coming up with some kind of appropriate response. "Uh… no, I just… I… I like you," he blurted out, earning a downright bone-chilling "What?" from Keith. It sent cold shivers down his back, making him panic even more, especially when he saw the confused but pleased look on Luka's face. "No, wait! I said that wrong!" he began to ramble in a panic. "I meant your movies! I thought you were really great in the _Colony_ remake you did last year! It was only your second role but you played the crazed cult member really well. It was really impressive." When he watched Luka's reaction, he saw the smirk vanish and her expression morphing into a neutral and unreadable one. Not unlike the one Keith wore whenever he tried to hide his real thoughts. Speaking of Keith, he seemed ready to lynch Lance, his burning gaze damn near searing a hole through his skull.

"You really mean that, don't you?" Luka said with surprise swinging in her voice. She was barely audible over the thrum of music, but her words still rang clear. "You don't have some kind of agenda or anything, huh?" Lance simply blinked back at her, before shaking his head innocently. "Hmm…" she eventually murmured to herself, contemplative eyes sliding towards Keith, before a small smirk formed on her face. "Hold on to him well, Keith. Who knows who else might try to snatch him up." With those ominous words, she turned and finally left, disappearing in the crowd almost instantly.

The moment the actress was out of sight, Keith's visibly relaxed, some of his earlier anger seeping out of him. Eventually, he responded to the questioning look Lance was sending him. "I know what you want to ask."

"Do you?" Lance immediately questioned.

"You're not getting answers out of me." Although Keith sounded harsh, he softened his words by stroking Lance's knee. "At least not now."

Lance had expected that kind of answer, but didn't fail to let out an overly dramatic sigh. "Fine," he grumbled. "At least tell me if people around you are really so two-faced they can't even give you a compliment without having some kind of hidden agenda."

At first, Keith seemed reluctant to answer yet again, but with a frustrated sigh he finally yielded. "It's pretty much what you'd expect. Even if you're legitimately some kind of genius producer, actor or musician, hardly anyone in this industry just gives out compliments for the sake of giving a compliment. Connections are important, so a lot of people only see others as a resource for their own success."

With the intent of somewhat lightening his next words, Lance dropped his chin on Keith's shoulder and intently stared up at him. "And you get away with being a huge douchebag cause you're so successful people still want to work with you even if you insult them to their faces."

Clearly not a fan of the blunt words, Keith averted his gaze and turned his face away from Lance. "Well… yeah, probably. It's rare anyone approaches me for genuine reasons, so I don't care if they end up not liking me. I'm just making use of my freedom to do so. Not everyone has that."

Staring at Keith's averted face dyed in red light, Lance was uncertain about what to feel. He had always disapproved of Keith being so unbelievably rude to practically anyone he met, but gradually he was beginning to understand that he had somewhat valid reasons. It wasn't simply his personality and things went much deeper than Keith was letting on. Lance wanted to ask him if something had changed his attitude because he couldn't recall him being this way at the beginning of his career. As much as Lance had clashed with Keith since kindergarten, he knew that he wasn't originally the type to respond to kindness with aggression, even if the kindness was fake.

"It's getting crowded," Keith suddenly noted, whispering the words into Lance's ear while being needlessly close.

Feeling Keith's hot breath hit his ear and neck, Lance had to bite back a surprised gasp that got stuck in his throat, goosebumps rising all over his skin. With his heart racing and face burning, he cleared his throat. "What about it?" He finally couldn't keep in a small surprised moan when Keith cheekily nipped at the shell of his ear.

"Let's go somewhere more quiet," Keith suggested, voice strangely firm. "The crowd's starting to get annoying."

Having been too distracted to notice, Lance finally glanced around to find the once thin crowd on the second floor having become quite dense. Where there had been several free couches before, now everything was occupied, people even standing around at the railing or near tables to chat with brightly coloured drinks in hand. "Where do we go?"

Pressing a chaste kiss to Lance's temple, Keith made it quite obvious what he wanted to do once they were somewhere _more quiet_. "I reserved a private room, remember? Let's go." 

Before he could ask any further, Keith had already gotten to his feet and was invitingly holding out his hand for Lance to take. After only a brief moment of hesitation, Lance accepted the hand and let Keith guide him through the noisy crowd. He could tell quite a few eyes were on them and he wasn't entirely sure if all of them were staring out of simple, innocent curiosity. Keith's words were beginning to make him question every glance and whispered conversation. Some of the faces only seemed vaguely familiar, a few others he recognised as various singers, actors, models and the like. It was a situation unlike anything he had ever experienced before and all of a sudden, being in a crowd like this was overwhelming. Feeling some unease and panic well up, he was incredibly grateful Keith had ejected them both from the situation before it could have gotten worse.

Lance was lead through the now unbearably thick crowd, the temperature several degrees higher than when they had entered. Things were evidently heating up, both on the dance floor and in the lounge area. The beat of the music grew so powerful Lance could feel it resonate with every cell of his body, as though it was disturbing the very makeup of his anatomy from within. The light illuminating every aspect and side of the club was still neon blue and deep red, oddly comforting in one moment and unsettling the next. Lance usually liked clubs, but here he felt strangely out of place. He clearly didn't belong and yet he was here. It was another reminder of how different he was from Keith, what kind of deep chasm of differences there was between them. Even if Keith acknowledged and accepted him as he was, the same couldn't be said for everyone else.

"This is it," Keith suddenly announced, waking Lance from his musings.

Lance hadn't even realised they were out of the main room of the club and inside a dimly lit hallway. It was quite nondescript, with dark walls and a small potted plant sitting in a corner. The sound of a key turning in a lock was oddly jarring in the otherwise silent hallway, the music in the club a mere distant and muffled thump at this point. Throat going dry a little, Lance followed Keith inside when he stepped into the room.

"Of course she'd give us the candy room," Keith scoffed, immediately throwing off his jacket and carelessly discarding it on an armchair.

Even without knowing its name, Lance would have been able to guess the theme. The room was sparsely furnished only with a bed, a simple desk and a little couch, but the furniture that was there was coloured in bright and cheerful candy-like hues, mostly bright reds and blues that seemed to match the overall theme of the club. Lance quickly caught sight of the candy sitting on the desk and made a beeline for it. "Wow, there's actual candy in here," he noted excitedly, already picking up something out of an ashtray-sized dish that looked like red crushed up rock candy and smelled like strawberries. But before he could try it, Keith suddenly appeared at his side and took a tight, almost painful hold of his wrist.

"Don't eat that."

Shocked at the unusually sharp tone, Lance waited for Keith to loosen his grip so he could drop the candy back into the dish. "Why? Something wrong with it?"

Expression dark, Keith silently took the dish and unceremoniously dumped its contents into the trash bin beneath the desk. "It's not candy."

"Oh," was all Lance could say in response, suddenly feeling dumb and naive for not realising what was actually in the dish. This was a nightclub and not a kindergarten after all.

After the initial shock wore off, Lance let his eyes wander around the rest of the room, finding a small fridge sitting and quietly buzzing away next to the desk. Although he was curious, Lance didn't look inside for fear of what he would find. The little trash bin was empty safe for a few scraps of paper and the 'candy' Keith had thrown away. If not for the colourful theming and the candy, Lance would call this a regular hotel room. And so with nothing left to explore in the room, Lance turned to ask Keith what they were going to do in such a lavish room, heart already racing a little. What he found was his boyfriend half asleep on the bed. He was sitting up on the side of the bed, but gradually nodding off, head slowly lolling around, sometimes snapping up whenever he woke back up enough to regain control over his body.

"Hey," Lance called him softly, walking over and stopping close enough he could almost whisper directly into Keith's ears, "wanna sleep?"

Hearing the words, Keith snapped out of it a little. Eyes heavy with exhaustion, he slowly shook his head. "Want you."

"Wh-What are you? A kid?" Lance sputtered, taken aback by the blunt words said in a voice that was low and laden with a tired hoarseness.

Rather than respond to the jab, Keith pulled Lance closer by the belt loops in his pants and clumsily guided him into straddling his lap. Lance, almost in a trance by now, obliged without much resistance, too mesmerised with the gentle way a tired Keith was handling him. It was odd to not receive some sort of comeback, not even a reaction. Lance liked to cover up uneasiness with jokes, so knowing Keith would always respond in kind to resolve any tension was comforting. But now that safety net was gone and Lance had absolutely no way to defend against the on-flood of sensations and feelings coursing through him. The distant, muffled music of the club paired with the distinct silence of the room gradually heightened Lance's senses, making him overly aware of each and every one of Keith's actions. The rustle of his clothes, his calm breathing, the tired flutter of his eyelashes, the way he was unhurriedly sliding his hands over Lance's thighs.

While Lance was only beginning to explore all the dips and valleys of his back with his hands, Keith wasted no time descending on Lance's collarbone, which he had already eyed back in the car. Caught off guard by the sudden hunger that seemed to take over Keith, Lance swallowed a surprised gasp. He could feel Keith's teeth sliding over his skin, his tongue licking a path across his collarbone. The sensation sent an almost overwhelming shudder down Lance's spine and he could tell it only spurred Keith on further. The hands he had been letting wander across Keith's back began clawing into his hair, his breathing growing erratic. The sound of Keith sucking at his skin was obscene, lighting a fire in Lance's gut that spread throughout his entire body instantly. He couldn't hold back a moan when Keith pulled down his shirt far enough he could sink his teeth into his shoulder.

Seemingly pleased by the reaction, Keith finally parted from Lance's collarbone to stare up at him, eyes unfocused and skin flushed. "You're so hot," he murmured breathlessly.

Unable to hide a pleased smile, Lance soon broke out into a cocky grin. "Of course! You have good taste after all!" Daring to look back down after a few seconds of stroking his own ego, Lance found Keith _pouting_ , of all things. "Hey, you get told how attractive you are everyday. Why does it matter if I tell you?"

"It's different when you say it," Keith shot back, slurring his words slightly.

Finding some enjoyment in Keith being this tired and defenceless, Lance pushed him down onto the bed and watched him fall asleep for a few seconds the moment his head hit the mattress. "You trash-talking that producer to his face earlier was pretty hot."

"You think so?" Keith mumbled back, half asleep by now.

Lance simply hummed back in response, before leaning down to capture Keith's lips. When he gently sucked at Keith's bottom lip, he received a pleased little moan as reward. Lance could feel Keith's resolve waning, his body going more and more slack as the seconds ticked by. When he finally broke the kiss, Keith finally spoke up again, voice already heavy with sleep.

"Sorry we can't do more," he lamented, reaching up to run his fingers over the back of Lance's neck. "I didn't get to sleep a lot."

"I know, don't worry." With Keith gradually becoming deadweight underneath him, Lance got off him and gently shook him awake. "Hey, at least take off some clothes before you sleep."

Eyes closed now, Keith haphazardly kicked off his shoes and somehow slid off his jeans, all while lying down. After that, he slowly crawled towards the pillows and let himself drop into a more conventional sleeping position, now only in briefs and a shirt. Watching all this unfold, Lance could feel his own tiredness creeping up, prompting him to pull out the blanket from underneath Keith so he could cover him, before getting ready to sleep himself. He followed Keith's example and haphazardly slid out of his shoes and pants, keeping on his shirt. By the time he slipped in beside Keith, his boyfriend was already fast asleep, breathing even and body completely still. Keith already had terrible bed hair, his hair probably ruined from Lance unknowingly running his hands through it more than he should have. Lance tried fixing it, but gave up in favour of simply stroking it. Keith was dead to the world, completely unaware of the ministrations of his boyfriend. The sheer peacefulness of the situation quickly eased Lance into his own sleep, whisking him away despite the muffled thump of nearby music.

Even with how strange this room was, even with the club being so alive just outside the door, even with the world seeming like it was against them, Lance couldn't have been more comfortable than in that moment.

* * *

Lance awoke to the back of his neck being bitten and nipped like a chew toy. The occasional hard bite would wake him up more and more, until he eventually knocked his elbow backwards and received a pained groan in return. "Stop trying to eat me," he grumbled. "Why are you even awake?"

"It's morning," Keith drawled, voice still heavy with sleep. "I need to leave for a photoshoot in half an hour."

"So you're trying to get some _now_?" Lance slowly opened his eyes, before running a still drowsy hand over his face. Unfortunately, rubbing at his eyes only made him all the more tired again. "Am I just here to be your stress relief toy?"

"Obviously," Keith immediately replied, inching closer again until he could press his chest against Lance's back and slide a hand under his shirt. Immediately, his hands began to explore the dips and curves of Lance's torso, sliding across his ribcage, barely ghosting over his nipples and sinking down to his abdomen.

Lance tried not reacting to what Keith was doing to him out of spite, but it was nigh impossible. He was almost certain Keith could feel how fast his heart was racing. Despite his efforts not to, Lance would twitch and squirm, burying his face in his pillow to muffle any sounds that might spill out. He shouldn't be reacting like this, he knew that. But being in a bed, in an unfamiliar place and surrounded by an eerie silence, all served to make the situation more intimate than Lance could have ever fathomed. He could feel Keith's heartbeat against his back, almost thumping quicker than even his own.

When a hand suddenly ran over the waistband of his briefs, Lance couldn't hold back a surprised gasp and froze up. An uneasy tension spread through his body, which seemed to make Keith back off.

"Did I startle you?"

Having Keith whisper in his ear like that, Lance flinched a little again. "Kinda." Knowing he _needed_ to explain, Lance gulped and tried to sort out his own chaotic thoughts. The atmosphere had almost instantly cooled off, turning into something that still buzzed with passion, yet was underlined with a tinge of unease. "The whole um… sleeping with a guy thing just really freaks me out, you know. I've only been with girls before, so…"

Keith was silent for a moment, the hand he had kept on Lance's waist slowly retreating to simply rest on his shoulder. "I… well… me too? Kinda."

Caught off guard by the admission, Lance finally turned onto his back so he could look Keith into the eyes. He was momentarily distracted by Keith's spectacular bed hair and seemingly cranky expression. Seeing Keith in his natural state somewhat dissolved some of his unease. "So… you don't wanna stick anything in me?"

"Not really, no," Keith replied casually, shrugging.

"Oh thank god." Lance slumped together a little in over-exaggerated relief. "My ass is safe."

Keith chuckled at the dramatics and propped up his chin on one hand so he could look down at Lance. "What about you?"

Mirroring Keith's shrug, Lance took a moment to really consider the answer to that question. "Me neither," he eventually answered quietly. "Even with girls it doesn't really… you know… _do_ much for me. I like… touching you though. And kissing you. _Especially_ … kissing you."

"Then let's just keep doing that." Smiling, Keith wasted no time leaning down to capture Lance's lips in a searing kiss that properly woke them both up. Their lips would part then meet again, rolling against each other in a slow dance, tickling pleased little sighs out of both of them.

"Egh," Lance eventually spat as he pulled away from the kiss. "Morning breath."

Planting one last kiss on his boyfriend, Keith clumsily climbed off the bed. "Sorry, gotta get ready," he mumbled in a tired slur. "You better get up too. We have to leave together, otherwise we came here for nothing." Already trying to somehow fix his mess of a hair in a wall mirror, Keith seemed strangely upbeat for someone that had only slept a handful of hours. Perhaps he was simply used to working with a lack of sleep. "The sun's coming up, so paparazzi won't be able to just hide in the shadows anymore. They're probably waiting outside and are gonna jump us the second we step outside. They'll ask us a bunch of intrusive question and try to provoke us into giving them a scoop. Just don't answer them. Ignore them and keep walking."

Fully awake now, Lance nodded. "Got it." This was going to be his first taste of being chased by paparazzi. For his previous encounters with them he had either not been relevant enough to be ruthlessly chased down or able to somehow escape them before things could get out of hand. Now he was jumping directly into the tiger's den.

"Shiro's parking nearby and waiting to take me to that shoot. He's gonna give you a lift."

"Thanks." Lance finally left the bed to stand next to Keith in front of the mirror. Although his own hair was a little messy, it was nowhere near the disaster Keith was _still_ trying to fix. All he had to do was run his hands through it a few times to make it look somewhat presentable. By the time he was fully dressed again, Keith was only just putting the finishing touches on the bird nest on his head. "That's what you get for rocking a mullet," Lance teased him, earning him a downright murderous look. "Your hair is a sin to mankind."

Keith scoffed at him, shooting him a snarky grin through the mirror. "You realise my hair wouldn't be this bad right now if you didn't constantly grab it like I'm some kinda race horse, right?"

"Yeah, no, that's definitely not it. I think you hair is just _that_ stupid." Nodding to himself, Lance had to suppress a chuckle seeing Keith's indignant scowl. Now that they were about to part ways soon, something he had been meaning to tell Keith resurfaced in his mind and he suddenly grew nervous. At the risk of putting a damper on this entire thing, Lance hesitantly stepped forward. "Um… Keith?"

Hearing the change in tone to something almost timid, Keith instantly grew suspicious. A small frown bloomed on his face. "What is it?"

There really was no other time to say it. This wasn't something they could talk about while Shiro was around, so it had to happen now. "I wasn't sure how or when to bring this up, but… I met my ex last week. We talked. Just a little. And… her and I both kinda of want to try and be friends again. Maybe."

Instantly forgetting about getting ready to leave, Keith snapped away from the mirror to stare at Lance with total confusion in his eyes, anger already tinging his voice. "What? Why?"

"Look, we only dated for a couple weeks," Lance tried to reassure him. "Before that we were friends for _years_. And I kind of… miss her, you know. Meeting her again made me remember a lot and–"

"But you _dated_ , so obviously there was some kinda attraction there."

Realising that this was going to be much harder than he had anticipated, Lance's voice wavered. "Well… kinda, but–"

"And obviously there was a reason you two broke up and lost touch." Keith's tone only grew more biting the longer this went on.

"Y-Yeah, but we…" Lance trailed off when he realised that Keith was genuinely getting angry over this, something he probably should have seen coming but was still surprised by. "Do you think I'll cheat on you or something?"

With a frustrated sigh, Keith turned away shaking his head. It wasn't an outright no but it made at least some of his thoughts quite obvious. "I just don't see why you'd wanna meet an ex-girlfriend again. You broke up. You got over it. Why meet her again?"

"Cause she's one of the only really close friends I have, Keith." Lance wasn't antisocial by any means. He had countless acquaintances and many people he would easily call friends, but very few of those were people he truly felt close to. "You of all people should know how hard it is to let anyone get really close to you." Lance said the words in a dry finality that didn't allow Keith to simply snap some kind of snarky response back at him. "And if I wanted to cheat on you, do you really think I'd even tell you all of this? I brought this up because I thought we could talk about this without you blowing up."

Refusing to meet Lance's eyes, Keith shook his head again and solemnly went back to getting ready. "Let's talk about this later. I don't have time for this right now."

Lance wanted to ask when that was going to be, but knew it would only upset Keith more. _Later_ for them didn't mean later the same day, or even the same week. It could easily mean a whole month later. It was simply something they had to accept and work with. Keith wasn't the type to neglect his career for a relationship and Lance didn't want to demand that of him either. Their relationship not being top priority was a bitter pill to swallow, but something Lance simply had to accept if he wanted to stay with Keith. Moments like this made him realise just how far from normal their relationship was. Even their arguments had layers of complication that were abnormal. Lance couldn't even get angry at Keith for not having time to talk things out.

Once they were both ready to go, the two of them left the room still in their outfits from the night prior, except quite wrinkled and a bit sloppy after a night at the club. They were silent on their way out, the air still hanging heavily between them. Keith kept up a brusque pace, forcing Lance to hurriedly trail after him. When they arrived at the reception, no one was there. Keith didn't even bother calling anyone and simply dumped his room key on the desk, before heading for the door. It seemed like he was simply going to throw it open and waltz out like the celebrity that he was, but instead he stopped. After standing with his back to Lance for a moment, he turned a little and held out his hand. When Lance shot him a quizzical look, pouting a little, he made an impatient gesture with his outstretched hand. 

"We can't go out there looking like we're about to break up."

Hearing the words made Lance's insides go cold, his body locking up where he stood. "Are we?" When he received no answer other than a confused frown, he gulped. " _Are_ we about to break up?" he forced out in a hushed voice.

Keith's hand dropped a little at the words, but he didn't retreat it. "Of course not," he spat with an edge of frustration, before closing the gap to simply grab Lance's hand and pull him towards the door. "I wouldn't have gone through all of this for you if I was going to break up this easily. You're not getting rid of me any time soon, no matter how much you piss me off."

Donning a dry frown, Lance made it obvious that Keith's response, albeit seemingly reassuring, was still quite garbage. An idea suddenly hit Lance, one that made his frown disappear, now replaced by a rapidly growing grin. When he saw Keith reach for the door handle, Lance pulled him back by their interlaced fingers, then used his free hand to turn him around and slam him against the door with a loud thunk. Surely, anyone outside had heard that. 

"Lance, what–"

Keith was shut up with a ruthless kiss, one that was all in right from the start, one hand running through his hair yet again, the other tearing out of his grasp to push into his clothes and slide over his lower back. Helpless little gasps escaped him every time Lance changed the angle and reached deeper and deeper, making him completely unable to keep up or even understand what was going on. All he could do was desperately cling on to Lance as he was ravished.

The moment Lance pulled away, Keith tried again to somehow get a grasp on the situation. "What is this?" he asked breathlessly.

As much as Keith looked wrecked, Lance was also visibly not at all composed. At the very least, Keith seemed to feel as heated as Lance looked, heart racing and his entire body hot, skin almost tingling with electricity. "If those vultures have been lurking out there waiting for us, we might as well give them something worthwhile."

"Wha…" Before Keith could finish his sentence, his hand was grasped tightly and the door behind him opened. Finally understanding what was going on and simultaneously realising that it was already too late to go back, he quickly put on his poker face. Or tried to.

Lance could tell Keith was far from calm and collected. He was smiling now, incredibly satisfied that he had so fabulously given Keith a taste of his own medicine. His smile quickly grew shaky though when Lance heard the first few ominous clicks of nearby cameras. He tried not to purposely seek them out, but hearing the hurried and frenzied shuffling of feet closing in, he couldn't help but glance nervously. With a quick cursory look, he instantly found three people running up to them as they walked out, all equipped with large cameras; there were probably even more incoming. Keith was walking ahead now, keeping their hands connected. Uneasy in this foreign situation, Lance's tightened his hold on Keith's hand, absolutely sure the other could feel how he was beginning to shake with an indescribable feeling of anxiety. People were beginning to shout at them, mostly throwing random questions at Keith or simply calling his name to get his attention. It was something Lance had seen happen to celebrities countless times, but being in the middle of it was chaotic and incredibly nerve-wrecking. If he messed up now, within minutes photos of his mistake would be all over the world. One little mess-up could absolutely ruin things.

"Keith, hey!" one particularly forward paparazzo yelled, his raspy voice far louder and more jarring than anyone else's. "Did you guys stay the night? What did you guys do? Did you have fun? You guys look like you really enjoyed yourselves there! Hey, Keith, does fucking a guy match up at all to fucking all those models?"

By the time Lance sensed Keith's growing rage, it was already too late. Not only were people all around them throwing far too personal question at them, but this loud guy was now throwing the most obscene questions at them. On top of that, he was also flitting about in front of them, taking close up photo after photo of their faces and throwing more personal questions at them. But most importantly, he was blocking their way to Shiro's car. It was visible from where they were and yet seemed so incredibly far away.

A small surprised gasp left Lance when a hand suddenly shot out to grab the paparazzo's camera by the lens, blocking its view. A moment later, Lance realised that Keith had stopped walking and was now staring down the paparazzo with fury burning in his eyes, his hand firmly grasping the guy's camera. His knuckles were turning white from how hard he was gripping it.

"You better get out of my way or you'll regret it." Keith's voice was a deep growl that would make anyone's blood run cold. The expression on his face was so furious and dark, it was obvious that his threat wasn't an empty one.

Feeling real, blood-chilling panic run rampant through his system now, Lance scrambled for something to do. The rest of the world didn't exist to Keith anymore. He couldn't hear the sea of clicking cameras growing more rampant and fevered, everyone around him only waiting for him to blow up and give them the chance to take incredibly valuable photos.

Lance could easily tell how spectacularly south this entire situation could go. With no time to think up a more refined plan, he reached out and grasped Keith's wrist in a tight hold, which made him instinctively loosen his grip on the camera. He then forced Keith to meet his eyes by stepping forward into his field of vision, physically stepping in between him and the paparazzo. Once Lance had Keith's full attention, he leaned in so he could whisper into his ear, knowing the cameras surrounding them had to be running out of space to save all the photos that were being taken. "Keith…" he began quietly, hearing his boyfriend gulp at the ambiguous tone, "if you do _anything_ worth a negative headline, I'll kiss you again and make a whining, moaning mess out of you in front of all these people." When there was no reaction from Keith other than his face being totally frozen in shock, Lance smirked. "Unlike you, I _love_ attention."

The speed at which Keith's hand retreated from that camera was probably record-worthy. Despite how much he tried to school his expression, his ears turning slightly red completely betrayed his true emotions. When Lance raised their joined hands to mockingly kiss his knuckles, Keith froze up even more, an almost pained expression taking over his face at being teased so blatantly. Seeing the absolute hunger beginning to simmer in Keith's eyes despite the obvious teasing, slowly replacing his anger, Lance mentally celebrated. Knowing all eyes were on how him and Keith were seconds away from making out, he used that chance to attack. The loud paparazzo was of course still blocking their way and, like everyone else, distracted. Too distracted to be prepared for Lance brutally kicking him in the shin. It surprised him enough that he crumpled to the floor, groaning in pain and leaving enough room for the two to finally make their escape. Keith's car was now only a short walk away, one that was frantically photographed and filmed every inch of the way.

Shiro greeted them in the car with a pinched expression, watching with obvious concern as Keith practically stuffed Lance into the car and immediately followed him inside, pushing Lance up against the other side of the car like he was a wolf about to devour his prey.

"You guys, there's still cameras pointed at you!" Shiro warned, but with a hint of resignation; as though he had simply accepted that there was no way to stop these two.

His warning fell on completely deaf ears, because Keith was already kissing Lance, totally crowding him into the seats of the car.

"At least put on seatbelts!" Shiro pleaded helplessly, sighing.

The car soon began moving, which the two only noticed when Shiro purposely stepped on the gas so abruptly, it almost knocked them down. Their kiss was forcefully broken, resulting in them staring each other down as they regained their bearings. Memories of their earlier fight resurfaced in both their minds, which made the lust and hunger quickly dissipate. Their hands were still intertwined, but remembering their fight, they both had the inclination to pull away.

"You can let go of my hand now," Lance murmured darkly, eyes averted. "No one can see us." Their show of pretend was over now. There was no need for them to play the happy, lovey-dovey couple despite still being in the middle of an argument.

But rather than let go, Keith's hold only tightened. He seemed to struggle with his words, as though he wasn't sure how to even begin responding to anything that had happened. For a moment, all he did was grind his teeth; perhaps a nervous habit. "You saved me back there," he began after a while, giving Lance's hand a small squeeze. "Thanks."

The quiet and almost timid words of gratitude made all kinds of fuzzy, warm feelings buzz around in Lance's stomach. They were like little sun-warmed fluff balls floating through his body. "You already have DUI and vandalism charges. Can't have you adding to that with assault or something." With the mood a little less heavy now, Lance was finally able to somewhat process the fact that he had kicked a paparazzo. _Hard_. Perhaps he would regret it later, but for now he relished in the satisfaction of it. "Did your label tip all those people off?"

"Not really," Keith replied calmly, that poker face back on his face, completely hiding away his emotions. "Just two people. That's enough to get the ball rolling." He cut himself off by yawning, before wiping a sleeved hand over his still tired eyes. "Calling paparazzi on yourself to get attention is pretty frowned upon, but my PR manager has no shame so… there's that." Keith seemed to finally sense Lance's lingering frustration over the fight, prompting him to pull one of Lance's hands into his lap so he could hold it in both of his. "Look, I know I probably shouldn't have gone off on you like that."

Suppressing a childish pout that oh so desperately wanted to emerge on his face, Lance refused to meet Keith's eyes. "Do you really think I would cheat?"

"No!" Keith immediately shouted, shocking even himself. "Not that, I just…" His now much quieter voice trailed off, the singer seemingly mulling over his own thoughts before responding. That in itself seemed like progress, considering Keith had a tendency to flat out say whatever he was thinking, regardless of whether or not his words would hurt someone. "I just worry cause I can't spend a lot of time with you. I'm worried about you finding someone who can give you way more of their time."

Hearing the admission, Lance's stomach was suddenly doing weird flips. Of course Keith would be worried about this, but hearing that he was worried about the same thing that Lance had been agonising over was incredibly comforting. "It… It _is_ hard. Not seeing you. Not even being able to just call and talk to you. You know, that kinda stuff. But…" With a small sigh, Lance managed a half smile. "I worked way too hard to be in this relationship with you. I was prepared going into it. Besides, it would be dumb to end it over something like this." He could see the regret in Keith's eyes, making the last bits of anger left in him slowly dissolve as well, before his eyes sank to the floor. "I'm… sorry for bringing up my ex-girlfriend. I know it's a big taboo to talk about exes, but Nyma and I really aren't like that. Our relationship was over so quickly, I don't even know if I would call it a proper relationship. The main reason I was hurt afterwards was cause I lost a friend over being dumb and horny. I never realised how much hurt she was hiding until we broke up and it just made me feel like a shitty friend." Lance finally moved his gaze away from the floor to meet Keith's eyes. "I want to make it up to her somehow. And she wants to do the same for me. Something like that. And if it helps, she's dating someone too."

Having attentively listened to the entire thing, Keith now settled back into his seat and released a deep sigh. He never let go of Lance's hand, keeping it firmly on his lap. "I get where you're coming from, but… I just…" He began shaking his head, eyebrows furrowing together into a frown. "In my head I get it, but I still feel weird about it."

"Jealous?" Lance poked, not entirely expecting a response. That was why Keith's casual, almost off-hand reply shocked him so much.

"Maybe I am," Keith admitted nonchalantly. "I don't like imagining you alone with other people. And if I could, I would probably lock you in my house and never let you leave again."

"Dude, you sound like a serial killer." Lance meant it as a joke, but when Keith responded with nothing but a blank look, he wavered. "Uh… would you actually?"

Eyes narrowing in thought, Keith took just a little too long to answer. "No. Of course not."

Incredibly suspicious at that odd pause, Lance backed away towards his own side of the car a little. "Creep." The murmured response earned him a half-hearted smack in the arm, tickling an amused chuckle out of him. With things between them finally settling down and their hands still joined, Lance allowed himself to relax. Now that he was safely on his way home, the fact that he hadn't slept nearly enough caught up to him and his eyes grew too heavy to keep open. And just as he could feel his head lolling around as he slowly nodded off, he felt something warm and fluffy plop onto his shoulder. Sleepily glancing downwards, he found black hair and pale skin pressed up against his shoulders. Already half asleep, Lance simply nuzzled into the inviting softness and dropped his head against Keith's. He could feel Keith's breath fanning over his neck and shoulder, but even that couldn't keep him awake. Sleep quickly won him over and whisked him away.

That the world was already freaking out over Lance _taming_ Keith and kicking a paparazzo was something he would only find out some time later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't be like Keith, kids. Never drive when you're really tired. Also wear seat belts, even if it gets in the way of making out.
> 
> This wasn't meant to be a whole ass chapter, by the way. It was just meant to be a smaller scene within a bigger chapter but then it just ended up writing itself. Whoops. I'm still working on my thesis and a lot of days I'm pretty tired afterwards, so my writing time at the moment is a little limited. Going to try to keep uploading within a month though. 
> 
> Looking forward to any comments and thoughts on the chapter! :D Next chapter is finally gonna have some proper _~smut~_. It's been a while since I've written any, but hopefully it'll satisfy those who were waiting for it.


	4. I – IV – V – I

The air smelled of rain and sunlight when Lance made his way along the damp sidewalk. The streets were still soaked from an earlier shower, glistening and sparkling in the sun. A small bell chimed above his head as he stepped into a cozy little smoothie bar, the interior decked out in every colour of the rainbow; the neutral wooden floors and counters were the only thing breaking up the chaos of colours. Basking in the peaceful atmosphere, Lance settled in one of the booths near the floor-length windows and set down his laptop on the table. And just as he opened it to begin working on an article for his blog, the chair on the other side of the table was pulled back and someone promptly sat down.

"Here, try this," Nyma demanded, dropping a smoothie in front of Lance that was an odd mix of muddy orange and bright green. The fact that she could look so serious despite wearing pigtails and a bright orange apron was almost comical. Still, with her mesmerising looks she easily stood out, even wearing the standard smoothie bar uniform.

Unfazed by the odd colour of the beverage and the chunks floating on top, Lance took the smoothie and gave it a contemplative look. "What's in it?"

Nyma hesitated, expression pensive as she watched Lance's reaction. "Pineapple."

Waiting for an elaboration but receiving none, Lance was beginning to grow suspicious. "Nothing else?" When he only received an expectant look in response, he sighed in resignation. "Well… bottoms up. I guess." Screwing his eyes shut, Lance took a cautious sip and let it sit on his tongue for a brief moment, before quickly swallowing.

"So?" Nyma asked with anticipation, looking ready to jump out of her chair. "Is it any good?"

There was an odd burning in the back of Lance's throat and he wasn't sure if he should dare asking about it. "Why does it vaguely taste like old sock?"

"Dammit," Nyma murmured to herself with frustration. "I tried putting in green tea and ginger but I guess it didn't mix well with the carrot."

In hindsight, Lance was thankful Nyma never told him in detail what was in her strange concoctions before making him drink them. Simply hearing it was starting to make his stomach turn. As thankful as he was to have a place to do his work and hang out without having to pay, he wasn't sure if it was worth being Nyma's taste tester. Occasionally, she would whip up absolute masterpieces, but most of the time her smoothies only served to make Lance feel mystified at all the many ways one could make natural ingredients taste so bad. So far only one of her creations had made it onto the permanent menu, but even that was a large enough success to her to motivate her to keep experimenting.

"Don't you have to get back to work?" Lance eventually questioned when Nyma simply remained in her seat and sipped on her smoothie with a pinched expression of disappointment.

"I'm on my break." Despite her visible disgust with her own creation, Nyma continued drinking the smoothie. Drinking her own failed experiments was somehow part of her process. "How are things with Keith? You two go on a proper date yet?"

Having dreaded the question, Lance sighed. Now that both him and Nyma were dating other people, they had somehow become each other's go-to for relationship talks. And even though Keith wasn't a huge fan of it, Lance continued meeting up with her for these exact talks, embarrassing as they were. "I mean… what do you define as a _proper_ date? We–"

"Okay, let me rephrase that: have you two gone out together and actually called it a _date_?"

Coming up blank, Lance reluctantly shook his head. "We're both busy, so…" It was demotivating to realise that ever since they had started dating, him and Keith had never actually gone out on a normal date. They were several months into their relationship and still the closest thing to a date had been their club outing, which had been entirely staged for the media. Lance liked to consider that a proper date, but knew it probably didn't count. At least the media had gotten a kick out of it, completely blowing things out of proportion by labelling Lance some sort of homme fatale seductor who could tame even the wildest of celebrities, namely Keith. "I just don't know how we would even have a normal date. It's not like we can just go out somewhere. Before we started dating we hung out at his place sometimes and we could probably just do that, but I kinda…"

Nyma waited for Lance to finish his sentence, but when he remained silent, a knowing smile stretched on her face. "You wanna go out on a _real_ date with him."

After some hesitation, Lance nodded and could feel the tips of his ears go a little warm. "Yeah," he murmured quietly, hiding his reddening face behind his laptop. He still wasn't used to the fact that he was dating Keith. There really was no way for it to ever sink in, considering they hardly ever saw each other. "I just wish we could go out like normal people and have fun, you know. Watch a movie, go out to eat somewhere, hang out in a park or something."

"You've always been a total romantic," Nyma chuckled, fondness entering her eyes. "I'm sure you two can find a way to have a nice date without getting mobbed."

Nodding as a small smile quirked his lips, Lance began absent-mindedly stroking the keyboard of his laptop. "I kind of… miss him. _A_ _lot_. All the time."

"I can tell," Nyma replied nonchalantly, taking a quick sip from her smoothie. "I hope you weren't trying to hide it cause you're really not fooling anyone. You're drawing hearts on your keyboard, dude."

Pausing when he realised that yes, he had indeed been drawing hearts onto his keyboards like a lovesick teenager during a boring class, Lance tried to ignore the gleeful little grin on Nyma's face. "Why do you always notice this shit?"

" _Anyone_ would notice when you're this obvious," Nyma shot back with a smirk.

Lance was still in the middle of trying to somehow conceal his reddening face, when a commotion broke out at the entrance door. It swung open with a loud thud and instantly chaotic voices from outside trailed inside. Two people stumbled inside a little clumsily, one more so than the other. Lance's eyebrows almost rose into his hairline when he recognised the two. "Shiro?" he murmured to himself, watching as the pair approached. The other guy's face was obscured by a baseball cap, but Lance recognised him immediately. Keith looked ready to pass out, Shiro pushing him forward with a firm grip on his arm until they reached Lance's table. "What's going on?"

Shiro looked exasperated as he pushed Keith into the seat next to Lance and let out a relieved sigh once he was rid of him. "Can you take him for a while? Please?"

"Um…" Unable to really deny the request, seeing how Keith was already making himself comfortable on his shoulder, Lance shrugged. "I mean… sure, but… why? And how did you find me?"

With seemingly every single eye in the smoothie bar on him, Shiro ran a hand over his tired face, his exhaustion and stress truly showing on his face. Luckily, a pair of sunglasses covered him up enough that so far no one had recognised him. He wasn't an incredibly public figure after all. "He's been holed up in his studio working on songs for days now. And that's just in his free time and between events and performances. I don't know how much he's slept, if at all. He's not eating most of the food I give him either. I can't babysit him right now cause I have to get to a couple meetings." Shiro seemed reluctant to answer Lance's other question, but relented with a defeated little sigh. "And Keith mentioned you tend to hang out here around this time, so I called your friend over there to check."

Lance's eyes instantly shot to Nyma, who had already retreated and was waving at him innocently behind the counter when she saw his accusatory glare. He would have to grill her later about why her and Shiro were in contact.

Meanwhile, Shiro seemed a little amused by the antics, although his smile quickly fell. "I also wanted to tell you that people sometimes take photos of you when you're here and post them online with your location. Maybe you should find a different place to hang out. At least until people lose interest a little, you know."

Nodding listlessly, brain still not fully caught up with the situation, Lance struggled to make sense of what was happening. Keith was already fast asleep, his black baseball cap luckily covering most of his face. "Is it really okay for you to just bring him here? Won't we get mobbed or something?"

A stiff smile briefly curled Shiro's lips, before he sighed. "It's still pretty early in the day. As long as you guys head out before people leave work or school, you should be fine. If you feel overwhelmed, just call me. I'll come over right away." He set down what looked to be Keith's bag underneath the table, his face brightening a little when Keith visibly relaxed into Lance. "Usually I would force him out of the studio and dump him in his house for a while, but now he has you, so I can leave him to you."

Feeling his face go a little hot at the words and distracted by how warm Keith was next to him, Lance almost didn't even register Shiro saying goodbye and leaving. His first rational thought was that this had to be a dream. There was no way that within the span of barely two minutes, Keith had appeared out of thin air and was now snuggling into him like a tired kitten. But looking down, Lance couldn't deny that the one taking a nap on him was indeed Keith. He seemed completely dead to the world, which made Lance wonder whether he even knew where he was. And the longer Lance looked at him, the more he noticed how downright haggard Keith looked. His complexion looked ashy, his hair seemed dull and dark rings sat under his eyes. He looked even worse than the last time Lance had seen him. Even when Lance poked his cheek, Keith did not react. He was fully asleep, unlikely to wake up even if the world were to go up in flames around him. A small sigh left Lance and a frown settled on his face, his eyes going back to his laptop and his still unfinished work.

Lance opted to continue typing one-handed, his other hand placed firmly on Keith's thigh. It goes without saying that working on an article was difficult when his boyfriend was quite literally breathing down his neck, all snuggled up against his side. Lance had never thought of Keith as cute. He was handsome and charming in his own way, but _cute_? That wasn't a word Lance had ever thought to associate with Keith. But seeing him this defenceless and peaceful, sleeping face free of stress, there was no other way to describe it other than absolutely _adorable_. Sometimes Keith mumbled incoherent things in his sleep or made strange little noises only Lance could hear. And every now and then, Lance would catch glimpses of Nyma staring at him and Keith with mirth in her eyes, which only heightened his embarrassment. Quite a few of the guests were staring as well, most likely wondering if that guy in the baseball cap was actually Keith, the pop-star. Some seemed to want to approach the famous celebrity, but with Keith so deeply asleep, no one seemed quite daring enough to come and try to wake him up to check his identity.

By the time he was halfway through his article, Lance realised it was getting close to noon, meaning he would have to leave soon. The smoothie bar was already unusually full, the news of Keith being there for sure having spread to the entire world already. When Lance noticed something glinting out of the corners of his eyes, he turned his head and found two girls at another table pointing their phones at him. They were excitedly chatting to each other in hushed tones and mainly staring at Keith. They were completely engrossed in Keith despite most of his face being hidden, but reacted with embarrassed shock when Lance flashed a peace sign at them, essentially posing for their _secret_ snapshots. As surprised as they seemed, they still took their photos and met Lance's unwavering gaze with bashful expressions afterwards, suddenly unable to take their eyes off him. The reaction took Lance off guard. After all, it was his first time having anyone react like he was a celebrity. It was both flattering and unsettling. Yes, it was a nice ego-boost to have people blush when he met their eyes, but it was disturbing to think that they knew things about him despite him not knowing anything about them in return. The enormous imbalance of information made him instantly suspicious of anyone that so much as looked at him. What did these people want? To simply stare and watch so they could have a story to tell to their friends? Would they follow them if Lance left with Keith? Would they approach the moment Keith woke up? Would they continue not so subtly taking their little snapshots to post on social media? What were these people planning to do? With all these questions running through his head, Lance suddenly understood why it was so difficult for Keith to trust anyone he met.

Soon enough, more hushed whispers broke out from other corners of the smoothie bar, which prompted Lance to finally close his laptop and stuff it into his bag. When it came to waking Keith up, as he had anticipated, it turned out to be a difficult task. Simply shaking him a little and telling him to wake up did not work. Shaking him harder only made him mumble more incoherent things. Lance briefly considered tickling him or touching him in a way that would wake him up _for sure_ but already knew that would only result in Keith murdering him the second he woke up. Instead, he opted to instead pinch his nose closed, hoping that would finally rouse him. Which it did.

Keith's eyes slowly began to flutter more and more the longer his breathing was cut off. His lips parted to allow him to take in air that way, but that didn't stop him from gradually waking up, until he suddenly shot awake. "Ngh…" He groaned quietly, scowling as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. "Lance?" he finally whispered when he turned his head and looked up to find his boyfriend sheepishly grinning down at him. "Where…you…?"

Making sense of Keith's fragmented speech, Lance slowly got up while making sure a still half asleep Keith didn't simply fall over without the support of his shoulder. "Smoothie bar. Shiro brought you here, but we're gonna leave now."

After listlessly staring at nothing for a moment, Keith nodded and roughly rubbed his hands over his face, before slapping himself to wake himself up. "Let's go," he grumbled as he got up on somewhat unsteady legs, absent-mindedly checking his phone before picking up the bag Shiro had dumped for him under the table.

Surprised by how quickly Keith could bounce back from such a deep sleep, Lance simply followed as Keith lead the way towards the exit. Considering Keith's work, it was only natural for him to be able to fall asleep and wake up in record time. It was probably a skill attained after years of performing and working on tight schedules, constantly moving from place to place, hardly ever staying long enough for a proper sleep.

"There's paparazzi outside," Keith whispered to him, before pushing the entrance door open. "Shiro left one of my cars outside, so we're taking that."

True to his words, there were already two camera-wielding vultures waiting for them, both instantly going in for the kill when Keith took his first step outside.

"Hey, Keith! How're you doing today?" Even though his greeting went unanswered, the paparazzo simply kept asking, completely overshadowing his colleague who seemed more interested in simply taking photos and nothing more. On second glance, the loud guy seemed oddly familiar. "You guys on a date? You look cute together."

Despite the nice words, Lance tried not to react to the paparazzo in any way. He knew the friendliness was most likely an act to get Keith and him talking. It was one of the most basic interviewing tactics after all: Make your target feel comfortable and safe and then gradually go in for the kill. But seeing how this tactic clearly wasn't working on the silent pair, evidently, other measures had to be taken.

"Lance, are you aware of the rumours saying that you're using Keith to further your journalistic career? Do you have any comment on that?"

Lance couldn't help the brief frown that flashed over his face. He knew of these rumours; how could he not? Even before deciding to date Keith, he had known he would be bombarded with this particular question. It was inevitable that his motives in dating Keith would be questioned when considering his past as an avid writer of rant articles about the pop-star. But before Lance's mood could grow any darker, Keith reached for his hand to intertwine their fingers and give his hand a reassuring squeeze. Before Lance could ask where they were even going, Keith stopped at a car parked in front of a nail shop. Lance immediately recognised it as one of the cars Keith used whenever he didn't want to attract attention: a simple black sedan.

"Hey, Keith!" the paparazzo went on, never lowering the camera he was using to film everything. "You've dated models and famous actresses, right? Why would you ever downgrade from that?"

The air grew palpably icy, tension instantly thickening it to a point it was nearly suffocating. The moment Keith spun away from his car to angrily march towards the paparazzo, Lance had already grabbed on to his shoulders to hold him back.

"Ignore him," Lance whispered, subtly urging Keith away from the paparazzo. "Just get in the car." When Keith did nothing but stand there and furiously scowl at the paparazzo, Lance sighed to himself and took the car keys from Keith. After unlocking the car, he quickly pushed a slightly unwilling Keith into the car, hastily shutting the door on him. Although he let Lance manhandle him a little, it was clear Keith was still very much filled with rage and would instantly lash out if provoked any further. The knowledge prompted Lance to quickly run to the driver side of the car and hop inside, shoving the key into the ignition and rushing to start the car before anything else could happen. The paparazzo continued yelling similarly insulting questions the entire time and by now, people had noticed Keith and were not too subtly standing nearby and watching the situation unfold. With the desire to escape stronger than ever, Lance quickly drove off. His heart raced as he aimlessly drove around, hoping to find a more quiet place where both him and Keith could actually relax. Palms sweaty on the steering wheel, Lance unwittingly remembered the paparazzo's face and how familiar it seemed. Then it hit him. "That was the guy you had a bad interview with, right?"

Keith was still fuming, eyebrows pulled into a deep, angry frown. "That was him, all right," he growled.

Gulping at the icy tone, Lance tried not to show how much the situation was affecting him, lest Keith would only become even angrier. "He was at the premiere. He really has it out for you, huh?"

A long, frustrated sigh left Keith as he crossed his arms, eyes firmly directed at the scenery passing by outside the car. "He really does."

Simply hearing the biting tone of Keith's voice, Lance could tell his mood was at its absolute worst. The only thing keeping him from going on a loud, yelling tirade was probably his exhaustion and lack of energy. Perhaps with enough sleep and a full stomach, he would have actually attacked that paparazzo. Recalling Shiro's words about Keith not eating, Lance knew for sure that he, at the very least, had to get food into his boyfriend. Going to any restaurant or public place was out of the question, which only left his or Keith's homes. But Hunk wasn't home yet and Lance wasn't the best cook. Meanwhile Keith's fridge was probably empty, as usual. That left Lance scrambling for options, desperately trying to come up with a way to procure food without attracting more unwanted attention.

It took half twenty minutes of aimless, silent driving before an idea finally struck Lance. With Keith now sleeping soundly in the passenger seat, Lance had to suppress the excited yell that wanted to escape at his brilliant idea. Giddy now, Lance smoothly found his way through traffic, now with a clear destination in mind. The entire drive, Keith continued to sleep peacefully, undisturbed by the outside world. Even spending time with him like this was incredibly precious to Lance. Simply sharing a space with him was comforting and seeing him so relaxed made relief wash over Lance every time he took a peek at him.

Eventually, Lance parked underneath a large tree, its canopy providing shade against the blinding sun. He had been lucky enough to still find a spot to park in this massive parking lot that was almost entirely filled with cars already. Once he killed the motor, he considered waking Keith up, but ultimately decided to let him sleep just a little longer. After stealing Keith's black baseball cap to wear it himself, he pressed a chaste kiss on Keith's cheek.

"I'll be right back," he whispered, before leaving the car and rushing away.

The moment the sound of the car door closing echoed, Keith's eyes fluttered open. He could see Lance dashing away in the rearview mirror and hazily processed his words about returning soon. With no other choice but to wait, seeing how he had no way to hide his face, Keith settled back into his seat. A quick look at his phone told him that he had slept for almost three hours. Counting the time he had slept in the smoothie bar, that was more hours of sleep than he had gotten in the past three days combined. After days of meetings, events and holing himself up in the studio to work on songs, not sleeping or eating properly that entire time, it was a little shocking that he had so easily forgotten about work and slept like a log. The mere sight of Lance at that smoothie bar had relaxed him so instantly, he had fallen asleep the second his head had made contact with Lance's bony shoulder.

It made Keith want to keep Lance close as much as possible, even though he knew he had his own life to live. He couldn't expect Lance to drop everything just to be with him. It would be selfish of him to demand that Lance practically give up his life for him, abandon his career, his friends and family. Their current situation was ideal for both of them, allowing each to maintain their regular lives, even if it meant not seeing each other much. It was painful and almost unbearable at times, but there really was no other possible way for them to date.

Keith was still deep in thought when Lance rushed back to the car, throwing open the car door almost with too much vigour.

"Here!" he exclaimed, throwing a plastic bag into Keith's lap.

Suspicious and still a little groggy from his nap, Keith hesitantly opened the plastic bag to see what was inside. Carefully, he pulled out the contents. "Are these… masks?"

"Yup!" Lance replied excitedly, snatching one of the half masks from Keith's hands. "Mine's an owl! Your's is a wolf or something!"

Watching Lance enthusiastically putting on his owl mask, Keith couldn't hide his confusion anymore. "Why though?"

"To hide our faces, duh!" When Keith made no move to put on his mask, Lance over-dramatically rolled his eyes and leaned over to put it on him.

Hands uselessly hanging between them as Lance tied the mask's string behind his head, Keith suddenly sighed. "You realise we're just gonna stand out even more with these, right? Where did you even get these?" The designs of the masks seemed quite elaborate, looking to be carved from wood and painted in rich, earthy colours; they were too light to be made of real wood though.

Hearing the question, Lance's grin only widened. "You'll see," he answered cryptically. The second he was done tying Keith's mask, he jumped out of the car and dashed to Keith's side to pull him out as well. "Come on!" As he looped an arm around Keith's, he pulled the baseball cap off his own head to instead push it back onto Keith's.

With his body still sluggish from sleeping for so long, Keith didn't quite have it in him to resist Lance at all. All he could do was helplessly let his overexcited boyfriend drag him out of the car and deeper into the forest that seemed to surround them on all sides. And just when he thought Lance was trying to take him on some kind of scenic hike through the woods, he could hear the distant chatter of people. And after passing by a particularly dense row of trees, Keith finally caught sight of where Lance was dragging him to.

"A renaissance fair?" he murmured incredulously, eyes hectically tracing over the many stalls and events, not to mention the sheer amount of _people_. "You sure no one's gonna recognise us? What if–"

"Everyone's in costume," Lance cut him off with a grin. "We're just in regular clothes, so no one's even gonna look at us twice. There's way more interesting people around. Like– Wait, shit! Is that a satyr?! Dude, are you seeing that?! Look at her legs!"

Bemused by the way Lance's absolutely eyes lit up at the sight of this lady in hoof stilts, Keith couldn't suppress his smile anymore. He had been to a fair share of lavish costume parties in his life – perhaps too many –, so hardly any of these costumes were blowing his mind the way they were for Lance. Nonetheless, watching his boyfriend lose his mind like that was heartwarming. So often Lance was preoccupied with making sure Keith was fine that he forgot to consider his own well-being. And as much as Keith wanted to take Lance on nice dates and make him happy, he simply couldn't come up with ways to do so. This was his first serious relationship after all. And although he had been on dates, those had all felt like just another part of work. Lance was more experienced in the dating department, so Keith probably should leave things like this to him. Still, that didn't stop him from wanting to do something for Lance. 

Keith was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't even notice that they were already walking through the main gate. "Wait, did you just pay for my ticket?"

"Yup," Lance answered nonchalantly, not even glancing in Keith's direction. Instead, his gaze shimmering with child-like glee seemed to be searching for where to go first. "You wanna see the beard contest? Or the masquerade ball? Or maybe pet some goats?"

Trying not to laugh at Lance, who was practically bouncing up and down in his eagerness, Keith shrugged. "I don't really know. Is there anything _you_ wanna do?"

Although Lance seemed the tiniest bit taken aback by the answer, his excitement instantly overshadowed any other emotion. "Then the goats! I usually come here with Hunk and Pidge, but Hunk's allergic to goats so we can never go play with them!"

"Sure, let's go." Keith's melted a little seeing Lance break out into another bright smile. He couldn't remember the last time Lance had looked this unabashedly happy. It made him want to give Lance the whole world.

Even when they made it to the goats, Keith was more focused on Lance than on the cute goats. It was fun to watch Lance's face light up with joy as he played the cute goats, even if Keith didn't quite understand what about these animals and their demonic eyes was supposed to be so adorable. And for some reason, the goats hated Keith but loved Lance. When they didn't stop butting him in the side or biting his fingers when he tried feeding them, Keith eventually lost his cool and began yelling obscenities at the tiny baby goats. Lance had to drag him out of there while nearly toppling over from the laughter shaking his frame.

"I kinda want a costume," Keith murmured after a while when they were casually strolling around and taking in the atmosphere. "To fit in, ya know."

"Those are really expensive, man." Lance deflated a little at his own words. "You can buy pretty decent costumes here, but I don't see the point in investing in something like that if you're only gonna wear it once or twice."

An almost surprised chuckle left Keith at the words. "You realise you're dating a literal moneybag, right? I have bottomless money pouches, chambers filled with heaps of priceless jewels and trinkets. A dragon guards the deepest part of my treasure cave."

As much as he tried to hide it, Lance was clearly struggling to fight down a grin. "Although I appreciate you getting into the renaissance spirit, I don't… like you spending money on me."

As they leisurely passed by stalls selling bright red candied apples and fragrant baked goods, Keith felt tempted to hold Lance's hand, but couldn't quite find the courage to do so in such a busy crowd. Holding hands for the sake of holding hands and not as some kind of show of affection for the press suddenly felt incredibly intimate. _Too_ intimate. "Why not?"

Lance hesitated to answer, but eventually relented with a sigh. "I just… I don't wanna make you feel like I'm just after your money. And I don't want to rely on you financially. I wanna be able to provide for myself! Something like that… Maybe I'm too proud and maybe this seems dumb to you, but that's just how I feel."

"You're right, I think that's dumb," Keith instantly shot back. "It's not like I wanna pay your rent for you and buy you expensive clothes and shit. Can't I even give you presents at all? Is that off-limits too? I have more money than I could ever spend on my own, you know."

Lance was close to pouting now, clearly miffed about Keith mocking him. "Why don't you donate some of it?"

"I do."

As distant metallic clangs and excited shouts of some kind sword-fighting echoed in the distance, Lance almost tripped over his own feet. "You do?!" When all he got as an answer was a casual nod, he continued sputtering. "How– Wha… How much? To what? Why does nobody know about this?"

Momentarily stunned by the barrage of questions, Keith decided to answer each one by one. "About a third of my income, to a lot of different organisations, anonymously cause if I make it public it'll just seem like a publicity stunt, so why mention it at all?"

This time Lance did stop in his tracks. "Wow… suddenly I'm really horny."

" _That_ gets you turned on?!" Seeing Lance's over-exaggerated nod and dead-serious expression, Keith couldn't back a snort of laughter. "Dumbass." Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see Lance's face morph into an expression of shock, making his laughter die down almost immediately. "What's up?"

"Ah no, I just…" The shock quickly made way for a hesitant but fond smile. "I haven't heard you laugh in a while."

Even with the mask covering half his face, Keith could see the different emotions pooling in Lance's eyes. It suddenly made him painfully aware of how goddamn blue Lance's eyes were, like two jewels swimming on the surface of a piercing blue ocean and glistening in the blinding sun. He didn't know how to even respond to that kind of meaningful gaze, so he quickly averted his eyes and nervously coughed into his hand. "I'm uh… going over there to buy myself a costume. Wait here."

Left behind at an archery range, a confused Lance watched Keith rush away towards one of the bigger tents that housed an impressive arsenal of renaissance-themed costumes. Something had spooked Keith but Lance wasn't quite sure what. Shaking his head a little at Keith's antics, Lance decided to use his alone time wisely and try shooting a bow. He had always wanted to try archery, so it was with a giddy smile that he handed over the money to the knight-looking man overseeing the archery range. He briefly gave Lance an introduction to how to hold and shoot a bow, before simply letting him have a go at it. Lance's arms shook as he pulled the bowstring taught and aimed, his heart rate picking up in anticipation seconds before he let the arrow go. When he did, it left his bow with a distinct whoosh and smoothly cut through the air, before slicing into his target with a satisfying thud.

"Oh, wow!" the instructor instantly cheered. "People usually miss completely their first couple times."

Lance hadn't hit the bullseye, far from it, but he _had_ hit the target, which was enough of an accomplishment to him. His next few shots proved that it wasn't simply beginner's luck. His eight shot ended squarely in the bullseye, earning him an excited clap from the instructor and an impressed murmur from a little boy that was shooting a tiny bow at the other end of the range. Lance was setting up his ninth and final shot, when a voice caught him off guard.

"That's so hot."

Lance turned on the spot and quickly lowered his bow, finding Keith decked out in a burgundy vest, a white shirt with ruffled sleeves and a floppy hat with a long, bushy feather sticking out of it. He was still wearing his own pants and carrying a small ukulele toy in one hand, the wolf-faced half mask fitting oddly well into the entire ensemble. "Are you… a bard?"

"Um… aye," Keith replied half-heartedly. "I have no clue how bards talk."

"In rhymes, I guess?" Truthfully, Lance had always relied on Hunk and Pidge for his medieval trivia, so being with Keith made him realise how very ignorant he really was. Finally, he spotted the plastic bag Keith was carrying and eyed it curiously. "What's in the bag?"

Raising the bag a little at the question, Keith suddenly put on an overly innocent tone. "I _accidentally_ bought another costume. I got the wrong size so it's a little big on me. Maybe I'll throw it away, maybe I'll return it, who knows. If I could just give it to _someone_ I wouldn't have to deal with this."

With how incredibly unsubtle Keith was being, Lance simply _had_ to sigh. "What kind of costume is it?"

A mix of an excited smile and an evil smirk bloomed on Keith's face. "An archer."

Meeting Keith's satisfied smirk with a deadpan look, Lance briefly considered firing that arrow after all. "How much is it? I'll pay you back."

Keith mulled the question over for a moment, already getting into his role as a bard by making over-exaggerated pondering gestures. "Two silver coins."

Despite the sigh he let out, an amused smile began to curl Lance's lips. "I don't know if I have any on me."

"Gimme your money pouch," Keith demanded with an urging and overly theatrical wave of his hand. The moment Lance pulled out his wallet from his jacket, Keith pushed it open to dig through the little pile of change inside. After digging through the coins with a baffling amount of concentration, he took two "silver" coins and retreated his hand with a grin. "This should do as a renting fee."

"Renting fee?" Lance asked quizzically, watching as Keith pocketed his two coins of mere change.

"What? I said I bought the costume for myself." With a cheeky little smirk, Keith slipped Lance's wallet back into the deep pockets of his jacket. "I'm lending it to you temporarily."

Sighing at the _totally sound_ logic, Lance finally gave up, shoulders sagging. "Thanks, Keith." Seeing Keith break his character momentarily to look a little sheepish, Lance quickly turned around to hide his own embarrassment. Keith making any kind of previously unseen expression always shot a bolt of lighting through Lance's head, like some part of his mind was exploding with an overload of emotion. "Let me get this last shot," he murmured, voice a little unsteady. Even with how much his heart was racing, especially knowing Keith was watching his every move, Lance managed to pull his bowstring back normally, then keep his bow steady as he aimed and held his breath, before releasing and letting his arrow slice through the air and into the target. It wasn't a perfect bullseye, but still decent enough to earn him an impressed little noise from Keith. He had barely thanked the instructor and given back the bow, when Keith suddenly took his hand to pull him away.

"That was great, now let's get you changed."

"Changed?" Lance parroted. "Where?" He was soon ushered towards the backside of the tent where Keith had bought the costumes. There, inside a separate tent, two other visitors were putting on costume pieces and doing their hair, but they disappeared a moment later. That left Lance alone with Keith, who seemed oddly excited, considering Lance was simply changing into a costume. Folding dividers provided a space to change in private and when Lance headed towards one, he shot his boyfriend a perplexed look. "You gonna keep standing there like that?"

"Yeah," Keith replied flatly. "Am I not allowed to?"

Still suspicious, Lance mumbled an unsure little "Whatever," before disappearing behind one of the walls with his costume in hand. Putting on the pants and tunic proved relatively quick and easy. After pulling the hooded cowl over his head, what gave him trouble were the various belts and extra accessories. Pushing up his mask so he could see better, Lance peeked his head out of the divider. "Um…" Before he could even voice his problem, Keith appeared before him.

"What is it?"

Desperately biting back a pleased smile at Keith's enthusiasm, Lance held up the belts for him to see, noticing that Keith had pushed his mask up as well. "I dunno how to put these on." In reality, with some wrangling he probably would have figured these belts out eventually, but why not indulge Keith a little once in a while? Shiro had entrusted him to Lance after all.

Keith instantly slipped behind the divider to stand in front of Lance. Despite his mostly neutral expression, his giddiness was evident in the excited gleam in his eyes. "This one…" Keith began to mumble, strapping a sheath with a fake knife to one of the belts, "is for your weapon." He then stepped close until there was barely any air between them. "It goes around your hips." Without waiting for a response, Keith simply fastened the belt around Lance.

Feeling the heat of Keith's body radiating off his skin, Lance had an increasingly difficult time remaining composed. Every little glance Keith sent him, every knowing quirk of his lips, every slightly too purposeful brush of his hand over his body had Lance's mind slowly clouding up.

"This belt's for decoration," Keith continued, placing another belt around Lance's waist, before moving on to the last one. "This one's for your quiver. It goes…" He trailed off as he buckled the belt across Lance's torso, opting to let his fingertips trace across his chest, then circling towards Lance's back. With some gentle coaxing, he managed to push Lance against a nearby table.

Every touch left behind fiery trails across Lance's skin. He wanted nothing more than to simply close the distance and absolutely devour Keith, but he could tell that he was supposed to be patient and simply wait for what was to come. One look at the incredibly heated yet focused look in Keith's ink black eyes had Lance give up on any thoughts of wrenching control away from him. For now, he would simply enjoy.

After they both silently acknowledged the tension simmering between then, Keith wasted no time getting his hands under Lance's costume. The tunic Lance had only just put on was unbuttoned far enough for Keith to slide his hands inside and run his fingers over the lines of Lance's torso. Every deliberate press and stroke made Lance take a sharp intake of air, heat pooling deep in his gut and slowly seeping to the rest of his body, like a slow tidal wave warmed by the unrelenting sun. Keith jerked Lance close until there was no distance left between them, bodies pressed flush against each other. The moment Lance cautiously ran his lips across Keith's neck, the ruffled collar of his shirt tickling his face, he was punished with a little bite to his jaw. The feeling of Keith's teeth sinking into his skin, even if just for a moment, sent a sudden electric jolt through Lance's entire body, one so intense it made heat momentarily explode through his every nerve and then stay there like a drunken buzz.

"Stay still," Keith commanded, voice deeper and rougher than Lance had ever heard it before, heavy with desire.

It was the kind of tone that made Lance want to completely surrender himself to Keith, which was a feeling he had never experienced before with such intensity. He disliked being manhandled or made to feel inferior in any way, but something about Keith so calmly demanding his submission made him absolutely weak in the knees. It made him want to say _yes_ to whatever Keith asked of him.

"You're hard?"

The smug words pulled Lance out of his daze, making him lock eyes with his satisfied- yet curious-looking boyfriend. Feeling shy all of a sudden, he watched Keith take a small step backwards to be able to admire the bulge forming in Lance's pants, meanwhile keeping the half open tunic out of the way with one hand. "Don't stare at it like that."

Ignoring Lance's words completely, Keith proceeded to stare _even more intensely_. "You got hard just from making out?"

"I'm sensitive, okay!" Lance barked indignantly, covering his crotch with his hands in embarrassment. "And you keep groping my back and shit!"

Interest visibly piqued by the words, Keith returned his hands to Lance's bare torso. Continuing to ignore Lance's panicked little whispers of protest, he let his hands travel across the ridges of Lance's back, tracing his muscles and sliding his fingers over the bumps of his spine. He continued until Lance couldn't hold back a shuddering exhale, breaths gradually becoming desperate little pants. "Wow," Keith mumbled as he watched Lance melt into his touch.

Annoyed that Keith looked almost completely unaffected while Lance couldn't even control the noises coming out of his mouth, Lance finally decided to get that kiss he had been craving for an eternity. Before Keith could command him otherwise, Lance had already reached up to circle a hand around his neck to pull him in, any words of protest lost against his lips. Keith kissed back softly, carefully, with the kind of hesitation that indicated he was still floundering for how exactly to go about all of this. But Lance didn't crave that kind of softness. Not now, not after Keith had worked him up to a point where Lance couldn't even think about anything but helplessly drowning in this intoxicating heat together. Lance slid his hand from Keith's neck into his hair, pulling him even deeper into the kiss. A grown rumbled low in Keith's throat and he impulsively dug his nails into Lance's back, the air between them growing unbelievably hot.

When Lance pulled away, he found Keith panting and flushed to a point it was visible even in the semi-darkness of this tent. He could feel Keith rubbing up against him, which made one thing very clear. "Aren't you getting turned on at all?"

For a moment, Keith simply continued breathing a bit heavily, before suddenly looking apologetic. "Uh… sorry? It just… it takes me a while." Upon receiving a both puzzled and worried look from his boyfriend, it was Keith's turn to become indignant. "Don't look at me like I have some disease and need to be pitied! I'm just a slow starter."

"So if I touch your dick, you're not gonna get hard?" Lance asked bluntly, honest gaze completely void of mockery.

"That's not how that works!" Keith hissed back, real exasperation entering his voice despite the innocent tone of Lance's words. A surprised shriek left him when Lance all of a sudden shoved his hand down the front of his pants. "The fuck you think you're doing?! We're in public!"

"Everyone already knows we're dating anyway!" Lance shot back with a mischievous grin. "Not like anyone's gonna be surprised to find us making out in some tent at a ren faire."

"You really want the next headline about us to include photos of you jerking me off?"

Keith's panicked tone only made Lance's grin widen, especially considering that despite his complaints, Keith was making no moves to stop him from unzipping his pants. "Why not?" Lance whispered, resting his chin on Keith's shoulder so he could whisper directly in his ears. "I think I might be kinda into that."

"Kinky bastard," Keith bit back breathlessly.

"Hey, you're hard too! Slow starter, my ass!"

"Don't yell." Keith's scolding tone was completely undermined by how audibly turned on he was, his breathing uneven and his voice rumbling with lust. "I didn't get hard until you started groping me."

Lance's giddy grin melted away the moment he pulled down Keith's underwear enough to be able to touch his cock directly. "Oh, wow. I'm actually touching your dick," he noted monotonously, before momentarily retreating his hand to spit into it, then go right back to exploring Keith's length. 

"Will you stop ruining the mood already?" Keith's voice was filled with the kind of tired despair that could only come out of someone that hadn't slept properly _and_ hadn't gotten off in quite a while. "How can you be so sexy yet so unsexy at the same time?"

"Hey, I'm the sexiest thing to ever walk this planet," Lance immediately countered, cautiously sliding his hand further along Keith's cock, a little shudder running down his back when Keith's hips twitched in response. "You better consider yourself lucky I'm even talking to you, yet alone touching your peen."

"Yeah, I can't believe how lucky I am." Keith couldn't quite match the monotony of Lance's tone, what with him currently being jerked off in the slowest, most careful and torturous way possible. "If you don't start properly jerking me off soon, I'll head-butt you, you pompous moron."

"You have a really weird idea of foreplay, you know that?" Lance would have continued rambling and mocking Keith, but after looking up and seeing his boyfriend feel pleasure at his touch made him afraid that even if he tried to speak, only moans and needy whimpers would pass his lips. An almost pained moan burst from his mouth simply from feeling his own erection pushing against the restrictions of his pants.

Their masks having fallen off long ago, their foreheads were pushed together, bangs mingling. Any time they managed to gather their bearings enough to meet eyes, an almost palpable, smouldering heat passed between them. It seeped into their skin all the way down to their bones, setting fire to everything it touched. The few times their lips found each other for a clumsy and messy kiss, it was searing hot. Lance could feel Keith's breath as it hit his neck, burning on his skin like fire. Every little groan and badly muffled moan that fell from Keith's lips coiled the lust simmering in Lance's gut tighter and tighter, to the point it nearly became unbearable. Keith bucking into his hand and consequently pushing their hips together was driving him absolutely mad. The drag of Lance's hand across Keith's cock was gradually slickened by pre-cum, the sound of it growing more and more obscene. If anyone came in now, the divider alone wouldn't hide what they were doing.

"Lance…"

With Keith panting into his shoulder like that, Lance could feel his every desperate breath like it was his own. Keith's skin was damp with a thin sheen of sweat, the tantalising scent of it tempting Lance into dipping down to lick a stripe along Keith's neck. "Keith…" he moaned, incapable of forming any other word. The name became like a mantra, falling from his lips without pause as though it was the only word he had ever known. Lance only stopped chanting his name to bite into Keith's shoulder when he could feel the telltale welling of pressure deep in his core. The slightly angry groan the action elicited instantly sent a tingling through Lance's body that radiated from his middle to the rest of his body.

Keith suddenly slumped against Lance with a particularly loud moan, one that probably could be heard even by people passing by outside. His hold around Lance tightened to a painful level, his posture becoming unsteady. Hearing, seeing and feeling Keith come completely undone like that right in front of him finally sent Lance over the edge. When his orgasm hit, a bolt of electricity shot through his body, nearly taking out his legs as his muscles contracted and relaxed almost simultaneously. Without warning, Keith fell away from him to slump to the ground, barely managing to sit up with his arms propping him up. Lance was supporting himself with a hand on the table behind him, but soon enough his legs lost all strength and he was forced to join Keith on the floor.

They were both gasping for air at this point, gazes slowly trailing over each other's dishevelled and debouched appearances: costumes unbuttoned and ruffled, pushed up and pulled down in the most obscene places.

"You got a tissue or something?" Lance eventually managed to murmur breathlessly. "You came all over my hand." To demonstrate, he held up his right hand to show off the result of their little make-out.

"Just wipe it off somewhere," Keith sighed through ragged breathing. Almost as though to dispel the strange peace and calm hanging between them, his stomach growled loud enough it seemed to almost echo in the tent.

Grinning to himself over Keith's slightly sheepish expression, Lance found a fake plant to wipe his hand on. "Wanna get some food? I think we're both pretty spent."

Keith still seemed a little uncoordinated, even when he nodded. "Sounds good."

The situation still hadn't quite sunken in for either of them, which Lance was thankful for. He knew that this was inevitably going to lead to some awkwardness, but for now he was simply happy. There had been a nagging worry at the back of his mind that when it came to anything farther than kissing, perhaps he would chicken out. Keith was a guy after all and Lance still didn't find guys in general attractive. He was still very much into boobs, but somehow, because it was Keith, it didn't matter that he was a guy. In fact, somehow that only made him even more attractive.

* * *

Lance felt his stomach turn watching Keith eat. The guy ate like he had been starved for _months_ , which – knowing how he treated his own body – perhaps wasn't completely off the mark. The sun was beginning to go down by the time Lance lost count of how many things Keith had devoured. Baked potatoes, an entire pizza, a sandwich, a salad, turkey legs, various desserts, they all went down Keith's throat like they were mere air.

"Dude, slow down," Lance warned as he continued nibbling on his single slice of pizza. He wasn't quite sure if Keith's wolf mask suited him or not, what with him eating like a pig. Or rather _wolfing it down_. "You look like you're gonna choke." All he got in response was a sharp look that told him to keep his opinion to himself and let his boyfriend inhale his food in peace. "You're not dieting or anything? You're on TV a lot lately."

Keith took two more bites out of his pretzel before he answered. "I'm supposed to be," he replied messily through a mouthful of pretzel, before washing everything down with a swig of beer. "But Shiro's not here to slap all the unhealthy food out of my hand, so fuck dieting."

Stuck between wanting to celebrate his boyfriend's freedom and the need to somehow respect Shiro's work, a sigh left Lance. "Too much greasy food is bad for your skin, you know."

"My skin's never bad," Keith mumbled nonchalantly as he shoved a whole scone in his mouth.

"I hate you." Lance felt no pity when Keith actually choked a little on that scone. _Serves him right_ , Lance thought, recalling all the time he spent on skin care to maintain his healthy glow. Meanwhile, Keith was one of those guys who could eat a whole pizza and not worry about breaking out the next day. "You don't have anything else to do today?"

Still coughing from the scone that tried to kill him, Keith shrugged. "Just… stuff."

Suspicion immediately niggled at Lance's mind, making him narrow his eyes at his boyfriend, who pointedly ignored his gaze. "You didn't skip out on anything just to have fun at a ren faire instead, did you? I wouldn't have taken you here if I'd known you had other stuff to do."

Unable to hide his guilty conscience, Keith shiftily avoided Lance's imploring eyes, before sighing in defeat. "My PR manager booked me to appear at some launch event for a fashion brand."

There was a brief silence, before Lance abruptly burst into loud barks of laughter that shook his entire frame. " _You?_ At a fashion event?!"

"That's what I said," Keith grumbled quietly, visibly annoyed by Lance's reaction despite agreeing with the sentiment.

Lance's laughter died once Keith's words truly sunk in. "So… is it okay just to ditch like that?"

"Well… no." Growing nervous under Lance's disapproving glare, Keith took another sip of his beer to buy himself time. "It's not my fault I get booked for stuff without being consulted first. Shiro's supposed to sign off on everything, but my PR manager just keeps booking me for all these events and appearances without getting my approval first. I'm just at a point now where I don't care if people get angry at me for being late to stuff or for not showing up at all. I…" For a brief moment, Keith's composure completely slipped and his lips pulled into a shaky frown that betrayed the whirlpool of emotions he was feeling, all despite the mask covering half his face. "Sometimes I need a break too," he murmured so quietly and in such a weak voice, it seemed to fade into the wind.

Surrounded by the joyful laughter of faire-goers and engulfed in the excitement of medieval festivities, Lance should have been feeling joyful and energised. But even after catching a few hours of sleep and getting food into his starved body, Keith still looked so deeply exhausted it broke Lance's heart. It was the kind of exhaustion that had seeped deeply into his bones, into the very fibres of his being, dyeing him in the colors of stress and overwork. No matter how much he tried, there were things Lance couldn't help Keith through. So many things weighed on Keith, most of which Lance had no idea about. Often, it felt like the things he didn't know about Keith far outweighed the things he _did_ know.

"Hey, Keith," Lance eventually spoke up softly, waiting until Keith's tired but curious eyes met his, "make time for me next month."

The out of character request seemed to puzzle Keith a little, judging by the inquisitive quirk of his eyebrow. After all, this was the first time Lance was outright _demanding_ his time instead of waiting for Keith to coincidentally have time for him. "What do you wanna do?"

A smile slowly blossomed on Lance's face, his eyes lighting up with an excited spark. "I want you to meet my family."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if there's any mistakes I missed; I edited this while I was really tired.
> 
> So yeah… there's the smut I promised. It's the first smut I've written in years. Hope it's not too bad. On another note, I'm done with my thesis and starting to get back into writing more again. Won't make promises about future updates, as usual, just know they are coming. I have a lot drafted already, so there's definitely more chapters on the way.
> 
> Let me know what you think! I'm always happy to hear any kind of feedback.


	5. Im – IVm - Vm

Lance felt a little sorry for his boyfriend. Almost. Keith seemed well rested and looked fairly healthy for once, yet he was pale with nervousness, eyes filled with legitimate dread. "Dude, why are you freaking out?" Lance questioned him, making no move to leave the car. They had been parked for a while now, with Keith insisting he wasn't ready yet and keeping them both from heading out. "It's just my parents. And my sister. My brothers too maybe. Some nieces and nephews probably. And my grandparents. Maybe. Some neighbours might pop in."

"That's a lot of people!" Keith suddenly barked, voice shaky with both anger and trepidation. "I've never done this whole _meet the family thing_ , man. What do I even do?!"

"You… uh… _talk_ ," Lance replied somewhat sarcastically. He couldn't quite understand what Keith was so nervous about. How could he so easily spit insults and snappy remarks at other celebrities and famous producers, yet be so fearful of meeting an elderly Cuban couple and some siblings? And a few kids. Some extended family maybe. And neighbours probably. Okay, perhaps it was a little overwhelming. "What're you so afraid of?"

Keith finally settled down enough to actually look at Lance properly, slowing slumping down into his seat. The tension seemed to simply drain out of him when a small group of children ran past the car, momentarily breaking up the silence with bright laughter. "What if they don't like me?"

Realisation finally hit Lance. Seeing how defeated Keith already looked, images of their childhood suddenly flashed through his mind. Images of Keith by himself during recess, bruises littering his arms. Him always being picked last for any kind of group work. Keith alone, once again passed off to a different foster family after only a few months. Rejected over and over and over again.

"Do you remember when you talked to my abuelo?" Lance suddenly asked him, smiling as he slowly reached for Keith's hand.

Frowning, Keith stared at their now linked hands with something akin to suspicion. "I mean… yeah. I wouldn't call it _talking_ though. I didn't know Cuban Spanish _or_ sign language and he didn't know English. That whole exchange felt like one big miscommunication."

"But he still liked you." With delight blooming in his chest, Lance watched Keith's dark expression finally lightening up a little. "He keeps asking for you whenever I talk to him and gets disappointed when I tell him you're busy." Keith was nearly pouting at this point, tempting Lance to tease him. "He keeps calling you my _handsome boy friend_. I never know if he means 'male friend' or 'boyfriend' though." When Keith defiantly crossed his arms and turned his head away, Lance had a feeling it was to hide his embarrassment. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait, wait, hold on!"

Keith's panicked protests fell on deaf ears, Lance simply leaving the car to stand on the sidewalk and turn towards Keith with an impatient look. He tried not to show his satisfaction when Keith reluctantly left the safety of the car to join him. Despite himself, an amused little chuckle bubbled out of him, which earned him a sharp punch to the arm. "Ow," he murmured, rubbing his arm as he continued secretly grinning to himself.

As they walked along the sun-warmed sidewalk, it didn't take long for people to notice them. Luckily, it was still morning and the neighbourhood was quiet. Even when people recognised Keith, they didn't have enough interest in the celebrity to approach him. It made their little walk much more relaxed, allowing them to get to their destination without a hitch.

When they walked up the stairs towards the front door of Lance's house, Keith suddenly shot his boyfriend a slightly panicked look. "Just a warning, but I hate kids. Can't stand them."

Lance took the words in with a neutral expression, before simply shrugging. "Oh, well… good luck then."

"What?"

Maintaining his nonchalance was difficult with Keith giving him that bewildered look. "I have a niece and a nephew and they're both still in grade school."

"Wait, no, Lance, I mean it! I can't deal with kids! At all!"

Lance pressed the doorbell and continued to ignore Keith, who was devolving into an angry ball of anxiety next to him. Hearing the commotion already breaking out inside, Lance could tell things were likely to descend into chaos almost instantly; at least if they hadn't already. Behind the door there was a muffled screech, followed by thumps and the sound of steps quickly approaching. After a brief silence, much heavier and slower steps could be heard. The door then swung open to reveal a slightly out of breath man that looked like a buffer and older version of Lance.

"Hi there!" he greeted them. "I'm Marco, Lance's brother." The handshake he exchanged with Keith was firm and quick and soon followed by him enveloping Lance in a bear hug. "I haven't seen you in a whole year, man! Just cause you're fighting with mom, that doesn't mean you should avoid the rest of us too!"

"Yeah, sorry," Lance laughed, swaying a little on his feet when Marco finally let go of him and patted his shoulders. "I got really busy." He sent a brief sidelong glance at Keith and found him a looking pretty tense, as was expected. When he entered together with his brother, Lance noticed Keith giving him a curious look as he followed. He briefly entertained the thought of giving Keith a taste of his own medicine by not filling him in on a very obvious personal issue, but ultimately decided against being petty; although it did seem tempting. While they both took off their shoes, Lance began explaining. "When I got into college and moved out, I told my mom that she needed to stop babying me and we got into this huge fight. We haven't really talked a lot ever since."

"Oh," was all Keith replied with, clearly unable to relate and provide any kind of meaningful commentary.

"You better make up with her," Marco suddenly interjected. "She pretends like she's angry at you all the time, but it's pretty obvious she misses you."

"Yeah… I know." Already Lance could hear lively chatter from the living room, the fact that he was home for the first time in a long time suddenly hitting him. Everything seemed familiar yet foreign, as though he had never left, but was still entering as a stranger. Suddenly, the thumping from earlier resumed and two pairs of feet approached at a disturbingly rapid speed.

"Here we go," Marco sighed, as though having resolved himself to his fate.

What appeared from around a corner were two small children that looked eerily like Lance, the girl more so than the boy. Upon spotting Lance, they stopped in their tracks to curiously blink up at him for a moment, as though searching for something, before breaking out into big toothy grins that almost seemed too big for their small frames. "Lance!" they both cheered as they ran forward to hug him. Beaming now, Lance patted their heads as he tried not to get knocked over by their enthusiasm. His gaze briefly shifted to Keith, who suddenly looked more tense than he had ever seen him. Lance winked at him cheekily and watched with mirth as Keith's mind seemed to get stuck between wanting to cringe and being flustered. Before he could tease his boyfriend any further, his niece and nephew shifted their attention to Keith. Seeing him, their eyes filled with childish wonder and somehow Lance could tell what was going through their heads. To them, Keith had to be a surreal existence they had only ever seen on TV, the kind of person that was mind-boggling to see in real life. Lance could tell they were a little freaked out by the way they kept clinging to him. Once they had their fill of staring holes into an increasingly uncomfortable Keith, Lance was pulled towards the living room by his surprisingly strong niece and nephew. Soon enough, they let go of him to excitedly dash ahead and loudly announce his and Keith's arrival. 

"Lance really brought Keith!" they yelled, among other similar exclamations that were tinged with excited disbelief.

A frown stretched Lance's lips hearing the words. "I think they might be more excited to see you than me." Turning around, he found Keith suspiciously far away. It almost seemed like he was keeping a fixed distance from him, always trailing a few steps behind him. "Come on," he urged with a smile, holding out his hand for Keith to take.

"But–" Keith's words were cut off when his hand was grabbed and he was pulled forward, Lance keeping a firm grasp on his hand as they entered the living room.

The moment Lance saw the rest of his family, healthy and happy, he could feel tears welling up. It was in this moment that he realised just how much he had longed to see them. It suddenly felt like an impossibility that he had lasted this long without seeing his parents especially. The few times he had met his older sister had just barely tided him over. "Lance!" several people gasped at the same time, an entire gaggle of people suddenly descending on him.

Lance didn't even get a chance to say hi before he was engulfed in a massive group hug, the kind that left him breathless with happiness. It was an incredibly fulfilling feeling to be engulfed in that much love. The entire time, he never let go of Keith's hand and despite not seeing him, he could somehow tell how incredibly awkward he felt in the moment. Once he was let go and he regained his freedom, Lance had to exchange individual greetings with everyone that involved either kisses from his parents or slaps and head rubs from his siblings. "Where are grandma and grandpa?"

"Out back in the garden, just sitting in the sun," Marco explained, using the chance to pat Lance's head yet again, chuckling when his little brother swatted his hand off. "Go say hi later."

Even though he nodded, Lance couldn't hide the uneasiness that suddenly took hold of him. The fact that his grandparents weren't there to greet him and Keith said volumes, enough to make him immediately understand the reason why. He didn't have to ask to know what his grandmother especially thought about his relationship with Keith. Trying not to show the pang of pain that shot through his heart on his face, Lance pulled Keith towards his side and was endlessly grateful to have him close in that moment. "So… this is Keith, but you probably already know that."

The room went eerily silent as everyone sat back down on various couches and armchairs, eyes gradually wandering to the world-class celebrity awkwardly and stiffly standing next to Lance. With each second that ticked by, Keith grew more and more fidgety under everyone's scrutinising gazes. Really, Lance should have known it would be his other brother, Luis, that would break the silence.

"Well, good on you, Lance," he commented nonchalantly. "You've had a crush on him since kindergarten, right? That's cute."

Lance sputtered, immediately running towards Luis to somehow try and physically stop him from running his mouth. "Wha–"

"I mean… I remember from the day you entered kindergarten until the day you moved out, the main thing on your mind was Keith. The only thing that changed was instead of ranting about him to us, you ranted about him to your friends. So basically, you haven't stopped being obsessed over him since kindergarten. I always thought you were too obsessed for it to just be some kind of rivalry or something, but–"

His entire head already boiling with embarrassment, Lance finally got a hand over Luis's sinful mouth and practically knocked him off the couch in the process. Unfortunately for him, his torment had only just begun.

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right," his dickhead sister, Veronica, chimed in. "For a while there I was actually waiting for you to realise it and come out or something. But then you got a girlfriend." She paused, clearly for dramatic effect, judging by the smirk forming on her face. "For all of _three weeks_. And then you were right back to ranting about Keith and about how it was his fault you broke up. And look at you now! I'm so happy for you!"

Still busy keeping his brother's mouth shut, Lance was going through an intense inner dilemma over whether he should abandon Luis and silence his sister instead. Either of them had enough dirt on him to embarrass him for the rest of the day, so really, he had lost the moment he had set foot into this house. "I hate both of you. Hope you step on legos." When he received only evil cackling in return, Lance gave up on trying to protect his dignity and let go of Luis. When he made his way back to Keith, he could see the many questions swirling in his eyes. With a sigh, he leaned in to whisper to him, despite his families already knowing all the details of his failed teenaged love affairs. "My first girlfriend had a huge crush on you when you released your first album. I told her to choose between her weird fixation on you and me. Then she broke up with me." Lance could tell Keith was only partially paying attention, too busy keeping a cautious eye on the two children still blankly staring holes into his skull. It almost seemed as though he was waiting for them to suddenly attack him. Watching the silent exchange brought a smile to Lance's face, despite it not being the heartwarming scene he had imagined when thinking about his boyfriend meeting his family.

Conversations around the room slowly picked back up, the fact that Lance had arrived with a celebrity boyfriend already having lost its lustre apparently. His grandparents and parents didn't know much about Keith and his siblings most likely didn't want to grant him the ego boost that would be fawning over his boyfriend. That left Lance and Keith with the kids still staring, prompting Lance to elbow his boyfriend in the side with a grin. "Hey, wanna learn how to deal with kids?"

Keith immediately narrowed his eyes suspiciously, still looking incredibly stiff and uncomfortable. "What are you planning?"

"First," Lance began, ignoring Keith's lack of agreement, "you need to assert your dominance." He said this in a way that sounded more like he was talking about a dog rather than a human child. Before Keith could catch on, Lance stepped forward to stretch an open palm towards his niece and nephew. "If you use the right body language, they'll submit–" His words were cut short when a ball flew right at Lance's head and smacked him in the forehead with a sharp clap. He had been about to get to the part about using treats as motivation to teach children litte tricks. And as the ball dropped back to the floor accompanied by delighted giggling from his niece and nephew, Lance decided not to let the violent assault by his own family affect him. "Of course, bad behaviour should be punished. That much is obvious, right?" When he sharp gaze then snapped to his niece and nephew, he saw them flinch a little, their eyes going wide as they waited for Lance's move. All he had to do was take a single, threatening step towards them and they dashed off, excitedly screaming as they left. "See? Body language."

"I hope you never become a teacher," Keith shot back in a deadpan voice, fixing a vaguely resentful look at Lance.

Just as Lance prepared himself to throw a comeback at Keith, he was interrupted by his sister's words.

"So!" Veronica said, making sure to shoot a suggestive eyebrow wiggle at her little brother. "Who made the first move?"

While Lance fumbled for an answer, readying himself to yell at his nosy sister, Keith hesitantly raised his hand. "Uh… I think I did," he admitted.

"Oh wow, then how did you get together?" Veronica continued to poke, eyes shimmering with joyful curiosity now.

Other conversations gradually died down as Lance's and Keith's relationship was pushed to the foreground of everyone's attention.

Suddenly nervous and embarrassed, Lance fumbled for an answer. "We just… I dunno… decided to date."

"What?" Veronica immediately replied incredulously. "No drama? You just got together that easily?"

"Um… well…" Keith, clueless in front of Veronica's manipulatively innocent act, racked his brain. "I… gave him my new album and asked for his opinion and then we–"

"You don't have to tell her!" Lance cut in, already close to covering up Keith's mouth next. He could see in his sister's evil dickhead eyes that she was immensely enjoying tormenting him like this. He wasn't proud of the way him and Keith had treated each other before finally dating and Veronica could probably tell there was more. He knew she would probably pester him for the details later on when they were alone and already Lance knew he would most likely end up revealing it all to her. She _was_ his go-to for relationship troubles after all, annoying as she was about it sometimes.

"So… that's how you got together?" Veronica tried to poke.

Seeing the warning look he was getting from Lance, Keith finally got the message that he wasn't supposed to spill the beans like this. "Not… not really, no." His eyes nervously flicked between Lance and Veronica, Keith was clearly put on the spot now with the entire family staring at him expectantly. "It just… kinda… happened. I guess."

While Lance rolled his eyes at his sister's disappointed sigh, his attention was then pulled to his parents, who had been strangely silent the entire time. Yes, his mother was probably still a little mad at him, but neither her or his father had yet to make any move to greet Keith or even acknowledge him. Lance hadn't expected his parents to be fully on board with him dating not just a guy, but a celebrity. Nonetheless, this degree of coldness was a little shocking. He had expected this from his grandmother, but not his parents.

"Lance…"

Hearing his mother's disturbingly flat tone, Lance could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He gulped before finding his voice again. "Y-Yeah?"

Slowly, purposefully, his mother stood up from the couch, her long dress flowing around her gracefully. "I'm going to talk to Keith for a bit. Wait here." With that, she simply headed out of room, clearly expecting Keith to simply follow; which he ended up doing with newfound terror in his eyes.

Seeing the beginnings of panic in his boyfriend's eyes as he left, Lance wanted to go after the two, but knew this had to happen. If he wanted to date Keith, it simply had to. He only hoped his mother wouldn't go too hard on him. Although he knew he should probably give up on that hope.

* * *

Whenever Keith had pictured the stereotypical meeting of the parents, even before dating Lance, he had always pictured a father that was intimidatingly fit for his age and directed murderous looks at him simply for gazing in his daughter's direction. What he hadn't expected at all was being interrogated by the small, harmless looking mother of some scrawny kid whose finger he'd broken in grade school.

Lance's mother had poured him a cup coffee, before proceeding to instantly hit him with questions. "Be honest," she demanded, her gaze piercing despite being softened by age, "did Lance suggest revealing your relationship so publicly? Did he push for it himself?"

After his first sip of coffee, Keith hadn't managed to stomach another one. He was too tense to even take his hands off his knees, shoulders hunched and head slightly lowered. "No," he finally admitted quietly. "I convinced him to do it."

As she lowered her head, Lance's mother was clearly fighting not to raise her voice. "Do you realise what you've done?" The icy tone and the eerily calm way in which she said those words were more frightening than if she had yelled them. "You've doomed my son to a life of constant public scrutiny. All his work trying to make something out of himself has gone up in smoke now. What if in the future he can't find a job because of you? What if you break up and he won't ever be able to have a normal relationship again?"

Truthfully, Keith hadn't put much thought into the true long-term effects of going public with the relationship. Neither him or Lance had been in a same-sex relationship before, so all the possible societal consequences of coming out were completely unknown to them. Keith had known that both him and Lance from now on would be labelled a certain way, a way that would affect them for the rest of their lives. What he hadn't realised was what that label could really do to the two of them. "We won't break up," he eventually murmured, unable and unwilling to fathom any other future.

A small sigh left Lance's mother, the kind that seemed disappointed yet full of pity. "I can tell you like my son, but I can't approve of your relationship with him." She let the words hang between them for a moment, closely monitoring Keith's reaction. "How can you be sure you will never break up? If you do break up, Lance is the one who stands to lose the most. Do you understand that?"

Keith had heard Lance mention grandparents and listening to the exchange between him and his brother earlier, he got the feeling things would be even more difficult with them. Even if Lance's abuelo seemed to not mind the relationship, his grandparents apparently did. And even though he hadn't told Lance as much, Keith had seen his interview from when he had gotten ambushed during his break at work. Hearing that he was being mobbed to the point it was negatively affecting his work to that point had been crushing to hear. It was the exact thing he had dreaded, what he had wanted to protect Lance from. And it was only the tip of the iceberg. There was no telling what would happen from here on out if they continued to date. It was possible Lance truly wouldn't be able to live a normal life anymore, despite all their best efforts. If they ever _did_ break up, that could easily ruin his life and reputation forever. Already the media was hungry to rile them both up and coax a reaction out of them. There were no limits to how far they would go for a scandalous headline.

Lance's mother began wringing her hands, lips pulling into a frown that conveyed a certain reluctance. "I'm not going to do something as cruel as asking you to break up with him, but… please understand that I simply can't accept someone like you dating my son. With your career this won't affect you in the long run, but for Lance this is going to affect him the entire rest of his life. And you made that decision _for_ him. You pushed him into this."

The words hit Keith like one dagger after another, each piercing his chest and making it more and more difficult to breathe. "I know it was selfish of me."

"If you know, then why are you doing this?"

Taken aback by the sudden increase in intensity of the gaze and tone directed at him, Keith almost cowered in his chair. "I… I just can't let him go. I need him."

Lance's mother watched him closely for a moment, her knowing eyes seemingly reading him like a book, as though all his walls that were meant to hide his true thoughts and emotions were non-existent. In front of this woman, all his defences were mere paper walls. "But does he need you?"

This time, Keith had no answer.

* * *

Lance had gotten over his nail-biting habit years ago. Back then, his nails looking awful had been more than enough motivation to make him quit and he hadn't reverted to the habit ever since dropping it. At least until now.

Incessantly gnawing at his thumbnail, Lance sat sandwiched between his two brothers as he anxiously stared into the hallway his mother and his boyfriend had disappeared into. "Dad, what do you think?"

A long, suffering sigh burst from his father at the question, making him lower the book he had been reading. "To be honest, I don't really know," he replied quietly after some thought, avoiding Lance's anxious eyes. "I already went through this with my brother when he showed up with a guy one day, but this is something else entirely. You probably know what your mother is thinking and I think I agree with her. I don't like the idea of strangers watching your every move and judging you. It's painful for a parent to even think about." As he shook his head, he absent-mindedly stroked the frayed cover of his book. "Keith has people looking out for him and making sure no one hurts him, you know. You don't." To signal that the conversation wasn't going to go any deeper, he opened his book back up and made to continue reading. "I just wonder how much he means to you for it to be worth all this."

Having never properly put his feelings for Keith into words, Lance couldn't immediately come up with a response. He was certain about some things and clueless about others. Some days being away from Keith was almost unbearable, other times he could get through the whole day without feeling like the need to see him was consuming his every waking thought. There were very few things he could say with certainty, but even those made it all worth it. "He means a lot to me, dad," Lance eventually said in such a small voice his father shot him a completely shell-shocked look.

Lance wasn't shy. But he was the kind of guy to cover up insecurities with jokes and over the top showmanship. Anything awkward and uncomfortable was concealed with a bright smile, anything painful locked away behind a cheerful expression. Lance's voice being anything but confident and boisterous was completely out of the norm, which made everyone else in the room stare at him owlishly.

The severity of Lance's feelings seemingly sinking in, his father sighed once again and set his book on the little coffee table in front of him. "I'm not going to tell you to stop seeing him or anything. You're an adult and you can make your own decisions. But you have to understand that we'll worry anyway."

A shaky smile curled Lance's lips as he nodded silently, unable to get his voice to work. Next to him, Marco gave his shoulder an encouraging bump while Luis patted his knee affectionately. From across the room, Veronica winked at him with a smirk, immediately dispelling some of the tension that had settled into his body. Lance hadn't expected for things to go perfectly, his entire family congratulating him instantly and everyone fully accepting the fact that he was dating a man _and_ a celebrity. He hadn't expected it, but things being this tense and downcast still settled heavily in his gut, like a heavy, jagged rock that had gotten lodged deep in his core. He knew he should be grateful he wasn't going to get disowned or ostracised by his own family, but knowing Keith was probably getting the scolding of his life in that very moment left Lance unsettled.

His father seemed to sense the heavy atmosphere hanging in the room, despite everyone's neutral or upbeat expressions. "I'll go check on the kids real quick," he mumbled, before leaving his armchair to head out of the room.

That left Lance alone with his siblings, which almost made him more nervous than facing his parents. His brothers and sister understood him on such an intimate level and knew enough about his history with dating that being confronted by them in this situation was one of the scariest things he could possibly imagine.

"So…" Luis began hesitantly, uncharacteristically careful with his words, "I know Marco said to go say hi later, but I don't think it's the right time to talk to grandma and grandpa right now." His hand returned to awkwardly pat Lance's knee in a comforting manner. "I don't know about grandpa but you know how grandma is. Especially after what happened to our uncle. She still…" He trailed off, his hand coming to a stop over Lance's knee, uncertainly hanging in the air. "Just… give her time."

Unable to form words, Lance nodded, feeling his head lower involuntarily. As though he was ashamed, as though he was trying to hide. His grandma wasn't even in the same room and already he was cowering.

Veronica then approached and casually sat down on the coffee table sitting in front of the brothers. "When Keith gets back with mom, you should probably take him and just leave. I don't think either of you is ready to deal with grandma, especially after talking to mom and dad. We can have a family hangout another day."

"She's not _that_ bad," Marco argued quietly, crossing his arms a little moodily.

"Then you don't know her that well," Veronica bit back, her gaze suddenly burning with a quiet fire. 

Before Lance could think deeper about the words and read between the lines, steps approached from the hallway and soon, his mother entered with Keith in tow. The expression on her face was grave, with Keith's face not looking much better. Lance could tell Keith was shaken, even with him hiding it behind his usual poker face. His posture was stiff, his gaze more restless than usual. His eyes immediately found Lance's, but he seemed hesitant to close the distance. Noticing this, Lance quickly left the couch to approach his boyfriend and take a hold of his hand. Keith unconsciously backed away from him a little, but Lance simply pulled him closer again, shooting him a reassuring smile. His cheerful exterior soon deteriorated once he faced his mother, who stared back at him with an unreadable look.

"Um…" Lance gulped, realising that there was a conversation he needed to have with his mother no matter what. "I'm sorry," he eventually managed to say, his throat suddenly incredibly dry. "I know you're just worried about me. I shouldn't have talked to you that way." The memory of all the hurtful things he had thrown at his already exasperated mother during their fight came back in that moment, making him squeeze Keith's hand unconsciously. "Sorry."

Lance's mother, being the proud woman she was, merely nodded and offered no apology of her own in return. But the sorrowful look in her eyes was all the confirmation he needed to know she felt sorry as well. Her gaze soon wandered to Keith, who had by now resorted to simply staring down at the floor. "Keith…" she called quietly, waiting until he raised his head to look at her, "I might not be fully on board with this, but that doesn't mean I dislike you. For Lance to like you this much you have to at least be a decent guy. Besides, you're part of the family now." Seeing the way Keith's eyes widened to the size of saucers, she chuckled. "If you ever need a mom, you can come to me, dear."

By now, Lance's father had left his armchair as well and joined the conversation. He smiled warmly at Keith as he gently patted Lance's back. "Make sure my son stays safe, all right?"

Totally lost for words, Keith owlishly stared at the two people he had been most anxious to meet. For good reason. "I… um… thanks."

As quiet laughter filled the room at Keith's audibly nervous words, Veronica piped up. "If Keith's part of the family now, does that mean we get free concert tickets?"

Even though the laughter grew louder, several pairs of curious eyes turned to Keith waiting for an answer, including Lance's.

"W-Well… uhh…" he stammered, unable to decide where to even look. "I mean… I could probably arrange some. I don't really ever give out free tickets, but I definitely could, if I wanted to."

A mischievous grin instantly appeared on Luis' face. "Perfect! You're already the better little brother. You better watch out, Lance. If you guys ever break up, we might end up keeping Keith instead of you."

Lance merely rolled his eyes at his brother. "I'm not even surprised you would sell me out like that just over some free shit. You would probably choose a soggy piece of pizza over me as long as it's free."

"Correct," Luis immediately confirmed.

Disapprovingly shaking his head at his evil siblings, Lance chanced a glance to his side where Keith still stood stiffly, but now with a much more relaxed expression on his face. He still wouldn't call what swam in Keith's eyes happiness, but at least he didn't look like the world was about to end anymore. Recalling his siblings' earlier words, he suddenly agreed that he should probably take Keith and leave soon. It was better to end this on a good note, rather than risk ruining the sense relief and ease they felt in the moment.

Lance could confront his grandparents some other day. _Without_ Keith.

* * *

Even slightly lost in thought as he was himself, Lance could tell something was going on in Keith's head; something he wasn't talking about. The entire ride to Keith's house had been silent safe for a little small talk here and there. Once they stepped into the house, Keith refused to meet Lance's eyes, the frown on his face deepening more and more the further inside they got. He was restless. And instead of opening up in any way, Keith retreated. "I'm going outside," he murmured darkly, before wordlessly slumping away to his balcony. There he lit himself a cigarette and leaned heavily on the railing, like some kind of heavy burden was pushing him down.

Lance wasn't sure if he should do anything at all. Sometimes Keith preferred to be alone. Sometimes he needed his time to simply think and brood by himself. Before, Lance would have just left him be and gone to some other room to entertain himself while Keith worked through whatever it was that was bothering him. But now things were different. They were dating. And so Lance decided that he had every right to be pissed off about this situation. With newfound determination, Lance marched towards the balcony. Keith didn't even notice him coming until he was already standing right beside him. He seemed confused and still in a daze from pondering over something. Or at least he did until Lance unceremoniously snatched the cigarette out of his mouth, took a puff from it, then put it out in one of the potted plants.

Almost instantly, Keith's initial confusion made way for anger. "What the fuck do you–!"

Lance didn't even let him finish his sentence, silencing him by pulling him in by his shirt collar and kissing him. Even though he tasted like a dirty ash tray, Lance dipped his tongue between Keith's lips, tasting the smoke still lingering on them. To stop Keith from going anywhere, he let go of his collar and instead buried his fingers in his hair, a move that he knew would absolutely root Keith in place. Slowly, he let his other hand slide to Keith's back, where he carefully trailed his fingers over his shoulder blades. Right away he could hear Keith let out a small gasp, little shivers running through his back at the light touches. When he could feel Keith relaxing into him, Lance abruptly broke the kiss to glare at him instead, but still stayed close enough their foreheads were almost touching.

"You realise we're pretty much in a long-distance relationship, right?" Lance asked, voice firm despite his heart wildly thumping in his chest and his skin burning like he had just run a marathon.

It seemed to take Keith an extra moment to come back to Earth, but when he did, his face fell a little. "What are you talking about?"

Sighing with an edge of defeat, Lance slid his hand out of Keith's hair to let it wander towards his jaw. "You said your schedule is gonna be packed for a while. It could be _weeks_ before we see each other again, you know. But instead of making something of the time we _do_ have together, you're out here worrying over something by yourself instead of just talking to me." He could feel Keith unconsciously trying to retreat from the conversation, physically attempting to back away, but Lance didn't let him. Ire fuelling him now, he took a firm hold of Keith's jaw, forcing him to meet his gaze and to engage with him. "You wanted this, so don't chicken out now."

"I'm not…!" Trailing off as he lost steam almost instantly, Keith deflated a little. "What do you want me to say?"

Slowly letting go of Keith, Lance tried to shed at least some of his frustration so he wouldn't actually get upset at Keith. "Tell me what the fuck you're thinking."

Looking taken aback by the sharp tone, Keith hesitated. He averted his gaze and for a moment it seemed like he wouldn't say anything at all. A sudden breeze blew past them and made Keith's hair sway in the wind as he finally spoke up. "You're a public figure now," he quietly murmured, distress heavily tinging his voice. "I turned you into one overnight. Do you even know what that means?"

"Do you regret going public?" Lance tried to sound neutral but couldn't suppress the shake of his voice.

Again, Keith tried to physically escape, turning his head away so he wouldn't have to look at Lance. "It would have been better for you to keep it secret. It was selfish of me to not want to hide it anymore."

"I have a will of my own too, you know," Lance immediately bit back with an edge of anger. "Going public wasn't your decision alone. I knew what to expect and I _still_ wanted to do it. And so far I'm not regretting it." He paused to watch the multitude of emotions across flashing Keith's face, each one so brief and well masked, they were difficult to truly identify. "I don't think I'll _ever_ regret it."

Nothing Lance said seemed to get through to Keith. His eyes continued to remain dark with whatever was haunting him, his face a mask that was clearly covering up a great deal of pain.

Cautiously, Lance approached. With the kind of gentleness one would handle a frightened animal, he reached out to slowly wrap his arms around Keith and pulled him into a hug. At first stiff and awkward, it took Keith quite a while to relax into the embrace; when he did, he circled his arms around Lance's neck. "Keith…" Lance began quietly, absent-mindedly stroking his boyfriend's back, "are you worried about my family or something?" He didn't need to hear an answer to know he hit the nail on the head. Keith noticeably tensed up at the words and unconsciously tried to physically gain distance from Lance, which he didn't allow. Instead, he only hugged him tighter. "My family's important to me. I don't think there's anything else in the universe that even gets close for me." He paused and noted how Keith buried his face in his shoulder like he was trying to hide. It was both endearing and heartbreaking, especially since Lance could somewhat imagine what was going on in Keith's head. "Except for you." Another breeze ruffled his hair as Keith pulled away far enough to direct a look of shock at him. Even then, Lance kept his arms around him. "I'm not going to choose between them or you, in case you're worried about that. I wouldn't be able to. I need my family but I also need you."

Keith's expression became so conflicted, it was difficult to say whether he felt relieved or troubled. A long sigh left him as he finally slipped out of Lance's arms and slumped to the ground. Sitting against the balcony railing, he let his face drop into his folded arms. Within a mere moment he had become the exact opposite of the confident and stone-faced celebrity he portrayed to the world. He looked lost. Defeated.

"You crying?" Lance asked bluntly as he casually crouched down in front of his boyfriend.

"'M not," came Keith's muffled reply. With some reluctance, he raised his head enough his words at least could be heard clearly. "I haven't cried since I was a kid."

Tempted to lace his fingers into Keith's, Lance ended up simply running a finger across his hand and arm, drawing meaningless little patterns into his skin. "Why not"?

With a small sigh, Keith finally raised his head enough to place on top of his arms and gazed at Lance, looking much calmer than before. "When someone tells you to stop crying over and over and is angry enough when they say it, you just kinda end up… not crying anymore."

Even though Keith looked a little annoyed about it, Lance's fingers moved away from his arms and began drawing patterns on his face. "Who did that to you?"

Keith simply shrugged and turned his head away, pulling away from Lance's touch. "Doesn't matter. He's in jail now."

This was starting to look like another piece of the puzzle that was Keith. Yet another piece that provided an answer to a question Lance didn't even know yet. All he knew was that Keith was rapidly descending into a dark place. Whatever he was thinking about made him retreat into himself, refusing to let Lance in, not even an inch. Seeing it happen but knowing he couldn't do anything to stop it tore a hole in Lance's gut so big it felt like it would swallow him whole. Suddenly frantic to somehow distract Keith from his own thoughts, Lance suddenly jerked closer to stare at his boyfriend with a smile that he hoped looked genuine. "I'm hungry! Aren't you hungry? Let's order something!"

Silent, Keith eyed Lance for a moment. It seemed almost inevitable that he saw through Lance's act, yet he smiled back a little anyway. "Sure. I could use some food."

"What're you feeling like?" Lance continued, tone overly bubbly and the spring in his step a little too overexcited. "I've been craving Thai all day!" When Keith suddenly began to stare at him blankly, Lance wasn't quite sure how to interpret it. A plane passed by nearby, yet the noise didn't register in Lance's mind at all. He was too busy trying to decipher what Keith was thinking. But before he could figure it out, Keith pulled him in for a small kiss, lips lingering only momentarily before leaving again.

"Thanks."

The quietly uttered word, breathed into Lance's still parted lips, seemed to flow directly into his body, rumbling through his every fibre and nerve ending like a quiet, gushing wave. Seeing the fond and content smile spreading on Keith's face, Lance could feel an indescribable warmth blooming in his chest and gradually spreading to the rest of his body. His felt like his heart was growing too large for his body, threatening to burst out of his chest. With Keith getting up first, Lance was offered a hand to help him up. He accepted it after a small moment of hesitation, in which he worried he would actually dissolve into a puddle of these overwhelmingly warm, gooey feelings. If he wasn't so happy and excited, Lance would have felt embarrassed over being so easily disarmed by a simple thank you and smile.

He should feel at least a little pathetic, but he was too busy staring at Keith with longing goggly eyes as he walked into the living room to realise that.

* * *

Months after revealing his relationship with Keith, the media had steadily backed off and soon Lance could go to work again without having to worry about unleashing chaos simply by showing up. Every now and then a stray reporter or rabid Keith fan would sneak in to pester him, but security had gotten so accustomed to it that hardly anyone ever even got into talking distance. His days gradually became peaceful again.

With Keith in the midst of shooting for a guest role in a mystery show, their time together was cut even shorter. Even though Lance was used to it, waiting for the day where he would finally meet Keith only became more unbearable with each time they saw each other. Keith was taking up more and more space in his life, even without actually being physically present. Lance felt both closer and further away, like he had broken through a wall only to run into a new one. Ever since meeting his parents, Keith had been even more invested in his work, taking on more projects and bookings than he ever had before.

As Lance stepped through the aquarium entrance, he anxiously fondled the phone sitting in his pocket, wondering when Keith would call. Keith spent most of his time on set waiting for his turn to shoot and would call Lance when he wasn't going through lines or having makeup put on. Their little conversations over the phone were the only thing really tiding Lance over. They weren't at all enough to sate his burning need to see Keith, but at least they allowed them to stay connected despite the distance. And with Lance's growing need, enduring the wait was only becoming harder. It had never been any other way for them. Ever since kindergarten there had always been an insurmountable distance between them. Even now that they were dating, there was still a wall that separated them. It almost seemed as though the universe simply didn't want them together. Lance could only hope the wait would get easier with time passing.

He was in the middle of changing into his work uniform, when James, one of the other interns, suddenly burst through the door with wild eyes.

"Lance!" he exclaimed in relief, gaze growing much more frantic as he approached. "Something's really wrong with Livia! I just heard the vet talking about putting her down!"

The words didn't make sense to Lance. Yes, Livia had been refusing her food for a quite a while and had lost a lot of weight, but surely it wasn't anything life-threatening. How could that be? Manatees were supposed to live for a long time, weren't they? "What?" 

"Come on!" James urged, taking a hold of Lance's arm to pull him out of the room and towards the manatee area. "I think they're gonna do it soon. They told everyone to say good-bye and everything."

No amount of additional information made things any easier for Lance to process. This course of events couldn't possibly be so set in stone. The vet had to be wrong. He wanted to dismiss this entire situation as a bad dream, but the weight and heat of James' hand around his wrist was far too real to ignore. Still, something had to be off. This had to be a really bad prank of some kind.

There was no way this was reality.

Strangely, as he was being pulled along with the world around him slowly being drained of color, Lance remembered it was his birthday that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think updating about once a month is the best I can do right now. I have a majority of the story drafted, but well… life. Hope this chapter is worth the wait! Please let me know your thoughts :D
> 
> P.S. Sorry for any mistakes. Was dead tired as I edited this.


	6. I7 – IV7 – V7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked for the closest artists that I could think of to describe Keith's music, so I figured I might as well just paste my answer here as well for anyone else that's interested:
> 
> I didn't really use any specific artist as a reference whenever I wrote about Keith's music. It's 100% just imaginary music that only exists in my head. But pretty often I was working off of Justin Bieber as a model of sorts; with some changes, of course. So I'd say Keith's old teen pop music is close to what Justin Bieber used to make when he started. 
> 
> If I had to name the genre of Keith's newer music I think it's sorta like "modern city pop". Stuff like ["不可幸力"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbz2C2gQREI) and ["東京フラッシュ"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIuF37EWaLU) by Vaundy. Those songs are sorta what I imagined, except a little slower and more eccentric. Like some ["Acid Rain"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxg4C365LbQ) by Lorn sprinkled in there. Keith's voice actor, Steven Yeun, does have some covers that are uploaded to YouTube, in case you want to know what Keith's singing would sound like.

It was quiet enough Lance could hear the pipes quietly hissing inside the walls. Safe for a handful of patrons sipping on their lukewarm beers nestled in dark corners, the bar was shockingly empty. One of the ceiling lights flickered as though it was running on its last vestiges of life. The once rich burgundy wall paint was beginning to peel in some places. By the looks of it, this bar was on its last legs.

"Is it always this empty?" Lance's dark gaze slid towards Nyma, who was bartending behind the counter he was sitting at. As he watched her drying off freshly washed martini glasses, he ran a finger over the rim of his glass of vodka cola.

Nyma shrugged with an indifferent frown, diligently continuing to wash dirty glasses despite her obvious lack of enthusiasm for the job. "Fridays and weekends get busy sometimes, when we're lucky. But on weekdays it's pretty much this. I doubt this place is gonna last till next year."

"You gonna work at another bar?"

Mulling the question over a moment, Nyma began putting away the now squeaky clean glasses. "I guess so. I've gotten good at bartending and the pay's pretty okay." She seemed to notice how Lance's gaze kept dropping down to the counter, her eyes laser-focused on his every shift in expression. "You sure you're okay?"

Sometimes Lance hated how easily Nyma could see through him. It was disarming, to say the least. It made him feel bare and defenceless, at the mercy of her observant gaze. "I'm on my third vodka cola. Do I _seem_ okay to you?" He accentuated his words by taking a large swig of his drink and practically gulping it down.

Hands on her hips as she observed Lance with a contemplative look, Nyma leaned onto the counter to look at him even more directly. "You shouldn't drown your sorrows in booze, ya know. There's healthier ways to mourn a loss."

"It's not just that though."

Chin sitting in her propped up hand, Nyma casually pulled the now empty glass out of Lance's hand. "Are you upset he forgot about your birthday?" The frustrated pout that immediately appeared on Lance's face was all the answer she needed. "I mean… I guess that's pretty shitty of him. Even I remembered it's your birthday today and it's been years since we even celebrated together. Does he know you're hanging out with your ex-girlfriend?"

"Well…" Recalling his first ever fight with Keith since they had begun dating, Lance grew sheepish. "I… told him I wanted to and he wasn't a huge fan of it."

Nyma gave Lance a quick once-over, before apparently deciding he could probably need another drink. "Why aren't you with Pidge and Hunk?"

"They're both out on seminars that are out of town." Lance sighed, recalling his birthday the previous year when Pidge and Hunk had taken him out to a concert. It had been fun despite Pidge not being all that fond of crowds and Hunk vomiting his dinner afterwards.

"You have other friends though, right?" Nyma continued digging, pouring Lance's next drink, this one much lighter and more colourful than his previous vodka colas.

Lance accepted the unasked for drink with a puzzled look, deciding to simply trust Nyma. Although, considering her tendency to experiment, he probably shouldn't. "This isn't something I'd talk to them about," he began, taking his first sip and finding that the drink didn't taste completely vile; in fact, it was actually quite good. "We don't have that kind of relationship."

"And your family?"

"That's embarrassing," Lance immediately grumbled, taking a bigger sip from his drink, noting the tangy aftertaste it left at the back of his tongue. "They already know way too much about me. Besides, they live too far away. I'm not gonna drive all the way there just for something like this. This isn't something that big."

"I think it's a pretty major thing, but what do I know."

For a while, Lance silently emptied his drink, busying himself so he would have time to think. Nyma seemed to notice and let out a small sigh of exasperation, before heading to the other side of the counter to serve a new customer that had walked into the bar. Lance watched their interaction out of the corner of his eye, suddenly wondering what would have become of him and Nyma had they not broken up. When she returned to stand before him again, he couldn't help but notice how much more imposing she had become in the years he hadn't seen her. She hadn't grown taller or more fit, but the air around her was somehow different, sharper.

"I thought you were the king of parties," she said the moment she was in front of him again. "Why're you not having some lavish party with dozens of people where you're drinking yourself silly?"

"Isn't that exactly what I'm doing right now?" Lance shot back with a sarcastic grin, throwing back the rest of his drink and shooting a cheesy wink at Nyma.

In response, Nyma simply gave him a deadpan look. "I still feel like this goes deeper than him just forgetting your birthday. You wouldn't get like this over something like that. I get you're mourning Livia, but there's obviously something else."

Sighing, Lance resolved himself to his fate of being completely and fully transparent to Nyma, easy to read as a book to her observant eyes. "Keith… belongs to too many people. It kinda sucks that I can't just… lock him up and have him for myself only." He watched Nyma's eyes grow large in shock, her jaw dropping a little. "Do I sound crazy?"

Nyma hesitated, schooling her expression to look more neutral again. "I mean… it sounds vaguely romantic, but coming from you it's a bit creepy, yeah."

"Why's that?" Lance immediately questioned, mildly offended.

"I just never pegged you for the psycho possessive type."

Lance couldn't stop the dry laugh that escaped his lips. "Well if your boyfriend had thousands of people throwing themselves at him daily, you would get a little possessive too, you know."

Nyma simply hummed in response, sounding vaguely like she empathised. "You're so in constant need of physical affection, I'm surprised you're at all lasting in this kind of relationship at all. You always got super clingy even when I was gone for just a couple days. How is Keith able to handle you when you're constantly so pent up?"

A frown briefly flashed over Lance's face at the words. "Don't say it like I'm some kind of horn-dog."

"Well, aren't you though?" Nyma chuckled, finally taking away Lance's empty glass and seemingly pondering whether she should make him another drink. "Certainly seemed like that to me."

The alcohol was beginning to warm his body and Lance could feel his restraint waning, his words escaping him before he could stop them. "Waiting creates this anticipation, so when we _do_ meet it's this really special and memorable thing. Besides, we started out not seeing each other a lot even before we dated, so I just got used to it."

Briefly glancing at the two slightly rowdy man sitting in a corner of the bar, Nyma nodded sagely. "What about now?"

Lance usually wouldn't talk about these things to anyone, especially not Nyma. But the alcohol was loosening his tongue and taking away any inhibition about stating his true feelings. "He's so busy lately. More than ever before, I think. He released that new album and is already working on a new one. He's doing movies now. He's accepting more interviews and more projects. I can tell he wants to change and that he's trying to be a better person and I want to support him, but…"

"Not at the cost of your time together?" Nyma said with an inquisitive gaze.

Hesitant at first, Lance eventually nodded. "When we do see each other, it feels like I'm working. Like I'm just picking up where Shiro left off. Keith is so bad at taking care of himself, you know. We can't just… meet up and have time together. It always involves getting food in him so he won't keel over and die. Or him just getting to take a nap. I'm like… his oasis. I know being with me is comfortable and relaxing to him, but…"

"You want more."

Usually, Lance would have been frustrated about being read so easily, but this way he didn't have to put things into words himself. It was a little relieving.

"Well then just… _get it_." Seeing the absolutely disbelieving look Lance was directing at her, Nyma remained unfazed. "You realise you're dating him, right? And publicly too. You don't have to separate your life from his anymore and sit around like some lonely housewife waiting for her man to come home from the war."

Lance began to pout to himself, frowning down at the counter and drawing meaningless patters onto it. "I can't just show up when he's shooting or recording something."

"Why not?"

"Well…"

When there was no answer, yet another exasperated sigh escaped Nyma. "What do you guys do for dates anyway?"

"Dates…"

"Yeah, you know… the stuff we did when we _dated_ ," Nyma attempted to clarify, looking slightly disturbed at the lost look in Lance's eyes. "Watching movies together, eating somewhere, going out to some event."

"Uh…"

Things finally falling into place in her mind, Nyma slammed her hands onto the counter to lean forward and glower at Lance. "You _still_ haven't been on any dates together?"

Taken aback by Nyma's outburst, Lance hunched together on his seat a little. "Well… there was the one time we went to the ren faire together."

"Okay, great," Nyma sighed, stepping back a little to put her hands on her hips in a mildly threatening gesture. "And aside from that?" Again, no answer. " _Lance!_ "

"It's not _my_ fault!" Lance tried to defend himself.

"So it's Keith's fault then?"

Lance wanted to answer right away, but blaming Keith also seemed wrong. "He's busy a lot," he murmured after a moment of hesitation. "And it's not like we can just _go out_. He gets recognised and it turns into a huge mess."

"You're both morons."

Hearing the resigned tone of her voice, Lance grew a little indignant. "Well, what are we supposed to do?"

Rubbing her eyes while being mindful of her makeup, Nyma shrugged. "I thought Keith, as a celebrity, would know how to date secretly but I guess not."

"Why do you sound like _you_ know?" Lance mumbled back defiantly.

"I dated a famous baseball player last year," Nyma said matter-of-factly, her face a mask of nonchalance. "But only for two months. He cheated on me with like three other girls so I dropped him."

"Oh…"

Noticing the slight drop in mood, Nyma simply shrugged. "He was boring in bed anyway, so I was gonna break up with him one way or another."

Lance was suddenly reminded of why he had originally developed a crush on Nyma. She was the strongest person he knew and even if it was sometimes a facade, she approached roadblocks in her life with the kind of pragmatic directness Lance could only envy. "So, any suggestions for how to date a celebrity?"

"Hmm…" As she racked her brain, Nyma began mixing another drink, pouring a neon blue liquid along with something clear and bubbly into her mixer. "There's a couple options. Car dates, backstage dates, restaurant dates, stuff like that. Car dates are simple cause you can just do them on your own and go somewhere quiet. Restaurant dates take a bit more preparation. You can't just go to any restaurant, obviously. Backstage dates require that at least the manager and some staff members know." Closely watching the troubled expression on Lance's eyes, Nyma began shaking her mixer. "You know his manager, right? Just call him. Ask if it's fine and then surprise your guy."

Lance let the idea run through his mind, wondering if Shiro would go along with something like that. Although Lance considered him a friend, Shiro was incredibly strait-laced and almost too invested in his work. There was no telling if he would in any way compromise work just so Lance could pay Keith a surprise visit. On the other hand, he had entrusted Keith to Lance on several occasions, so at the very least, there was some trust there. "I guess I could try that," Lance mumbled quietly, accepting the deep blue drink Nyma handed him with a thankful, but thin smile.

Nyma was then called to the other end of the counter to take on another order, leaving Lance to sip on his drink by himself. He could already feel the alcohol coursing through his system, dulling his senses and making his thoughts muddled and slow. There was relief and comfort in being tipsy, bordering on drunk, so Lance welcomed the feeling with open arms. For once, he didn't have to think about Keith and whether or not their relationship was even sustainable, wonder if they could last with the eyes of the world watching their every move. Suddenly, the fact that Keith had forgotten his birthday resurfaced in Lance's thoughts and soured his mood considerably. The moment Nyma wasn't around to distract him, he began sinking into a down-spiral of gloom. Not only had Livia been put down on his birthday, a day he had previously only connected positive memories with, but Keith wasn't even around to help him through it. Lance's birthday being forgotten was merely the cherry on top of this trash heap of a day.

Once he finished his drink, Lance pushed the empty glass away and glanced sideways to where Nyma was engaged in small talk with a customer. Watching her flash a semi-fake business smile, Lance could feel his eyes slowly creeping shut, but was unable to stop it. His will to stay awake had already fled long ago. And so his eyes drifted closed as his already chaotic thoughts became near incoherent, slowly fading into silence. Soon enough he had folded his arms on top of the counter and laid his head on top. Within seconds he was fast asleep.

Meanwhile, Nyma watched Lance closely as he fell asleep, approaching once he was completely out cold. Briefly glancing around to see if anyone was watching, she leaned over the counter to reach into the pocket of Lance's jacket and pulled out his phone. With a sigh, she noticed that the day was almost over with no calls or messages from Keith. "Just what kinda guy did you decide to date, Lance?"

* * *

The remnants of a warm and summery dream slipped out of Lance's mind as he was shaken awake. Slowly, his eyes blinked open as the shaking subsided, leaving him teetering dangerously on his chair as the room spun around him. He could make out Nyma's face, her eyes trained on the entrance door.

Nyma was saying words, "came here" and "pick", but Lance couldn't quite make sense of them. "Wha…" Unable to make sense of the garbled things he could hear coming out of Nyma's mouth, Lance tried to sit up, only to nearly slip off his chair.

A hand suddenly landed on Lance's arm and steadied him, wrapping around his middle the next moment. He could feel the comforting heat of another person's body enveloping him, making him unconsciously seek it out. He was still half asleep and hardly even registered being hauled up and out of his chair. Even though his sight was swimming, he could see Nyma grinning back at him. Lance could somewhat tell he was on someone's back being carried away, but being carried only made him impossibly tired again. He soon entered a fitful sleep that made time pass much faster than usual. One second he was in the bar, the next he was out in the crisp night air, before ultimately ending up in a car. There he was out like a light the moment he had snuggled into the comfy upholstery of the seats. It didn't feel like much time passed at all before someone was shaking him awake yet again and pulling him out of the car, before he had even woken up properly. It was all very chaotic and disorienting, but upon cracking his eyes open, Lance found himself in a familiar place.

"Hmnh…?" he murmured, feeling himself sway on the spot despite his best efforts to keep himself up. To his frustration, he realised the only thing preventing him from falling on his face was the person supporting him. Speaking of which… "Who…?"

"Guess," came the gruff and sharp reply.

The voice instantly sent shivers down Lance's spine. Hearing it this close only made him weaker in the knees than he already was. "Keith?" Reluctantly, he let his eyes wander beyond his boyfriend to make sense of his surroundings. Like he had assumed, they were in front of his apartment. "How…"

"Change your phone password," Keith immediately chided, tone tinted with frustration. "Your ex messaged me and told me to come pick up your drunk ass."

That sobered Lance up a little, to say the least. "Oh…" Some of the drunkenness faded as Lance tried to mentally catch up with the situation. He remembered that he was technically mad at Keith, but with him suddenly there with him, wrapped around him and doing all this for him, it was much more difficult to summon up his earlier disappointment and anger. Before he could even come up with what to say, Keith had unlocked his door and dragged him inside. Together they stumbled towards Lance's room, where he was somewhat clumsily dumped on his bed. He mumbled a sheepish thanks, before kicking off his shoes and burrowing into his sheets.

"Why were you with your ex?"

The question, audibly tinged with a simmering anger, robbed Lance of even more drunkenness. Everything was suddenly strangely crisp and clear, even though he still didn't trust himself to walk a straight line. "I just… needed to vent."

"But why your ex?"

Already, Lance could tell this wasn't going in a good direction. "Pidge and Hunk are out of town."

"That's not an excuse!"

"I called _you_ first, you asshole!" Lance suddenly shouted, abruptly sitting up on his bed to glare at Keith. Suddenly, he could feel all his earlier hurt well up again, fuelling his building rage like gasoline on an already devastating fire. "But you didn't pick up! I felt like shit and I still do! I just needed someone to talk to! Why do I need an excuse just to meet a friend?!"

Keith seemed to back down a little, but the displeased frown remained on his face nonetheless. "What could possibly be so important that you'd turn to your fucking _ex_!"

"Livia was put down today!" Saying it out loud instantly opened up a hole in Lance's chest, tears welling up in his eyes. "You _know_ how much she meant to me! I needed someone, okay! And you weren't there! Sorry if I hurt your pride or some shit but I was desperate to be with _someone_!" He could tell Keith was taken aback by his downright hysteric screaming. Usually Lance would worry about neighbours complaining about the noise, but at the moment he simply couldn't suppress himself in any way. "Do you even know it's my birthday today?"

That seemed to finally sap even the last drop of anger out of Keith. "S-Sorry, I…"

"Just… leave." Lance felt too empty and drained to even have this argument. Seeing Keith again after so long still made him excited and happy to the point he felt foolish, yet the sight of him was also painful.

"What?"

"You have shit to do tomorrow, right?" Lance murmured quietly, weakly. "It's not like you can just stay with me and help me through this anyway, right?" He could tell Keith was debating what to say, in the midst of filtering his words and making sure not to show his true thoughts. "Just be honest," Lance demanded coldly. "For once."

Although he hesitated, Keith eventually slumped together in resignation. "I'm shooting for a TV show in a couple hours. If I skip out, the studio can sue me."

Lance had turned away from Keith, unable to look at his face and see that haziness in his eyes that told him he was hiding countless things about himself. "I hate that I can't even get mad at you." He had known beforehand that he wouldn't see Keith much when they had started dating, but actually trying to deal with it was heart-wrenching. He didn't know how much he was allowed to blame Keith himself rather than his career. Not being available for a simple phone call was one thing, but forgetting his boyfriend's birthday also seemed like a petty thing to get upset over. In general, Lance felt silly for even being upset.

"Lance–"

"Go home. I can't deal with this right now."

"But…" Keith audibly struggled, clearly choosing his words carefully now that he knew Lance was not in a place to hear his usual snark. "But I don't want to leave you like this."

Lance wanted Keith to be near. He wanted to fall into his arms and simply be held and comforted by his presence and warmth. Any other day, he would have done exactly that. But after losing Livia, having Keith yell at him over seeking comfort with Nyma, and him forgetting about his birthday on top of it, Lance simply had no energy left to deal with the chaos of emotions Keith was causing him. Not with everything else that was happening. "I wanna be alone." Lance could hear his own voice crack, tears welling up remembering how sickly Livia had looked the past few weeks. The thought of being alone terrified him. But in the moment it seemed far better than having Keith around and being forced to deal with more of this mental turmoil. This moment was the culmination of months of trying to hide that Lance was upset over being unable to meet Keith, the concern over what his family was going to think, as well as worrying whether their relationship could even last like this. Being with Keith felt like free-falling without a parachute, naively hoping he would somehow magically find a soft, cushy place to land on.

"Fine," Keith murmured after a long silence, sounding utterly defeated.

Lance still refused to look at Keith, choosing instead to remain on his bed with his eyes firmly on the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Keith remaining where he was, seemingly pondering what to do next. He took half a step towards Lance, but seemed to change his mind and, after a moment of hesitation, turned on his heel. Screwing his eyes shut as he crossed his arms, Lance listened to the sound of Keith's retreating steps, the front door clicking open, the whoosh of a light breeze streaming inside as Keith seemed to linger. A few seconds passed with nothing but the sound of rustling trees drifting inside, before Keith seemed to finally leave. The door shut behind him, then the sound of his steps grew more and more faint. Until they were completely gone. 

Left behind was Lance, who was both grateful Keith had left without a fuss, butwas also disappointed that he had. In a small, childish part of his mind he had hoped Keith would refuse to leave. That he would somehow miraculously resolve Lance's months of pent up frustration and anxiety with a few well said words, then stick around to do his best to comfort him. Lance knew very well that there was no perfect solution to their issues. The fact that the success of their relationship wasn't fully dependant on only them and their investment, but also that of practically the entire rest of the world only made Lance feel powerless and insignificant.

How was he supposed to hold on to Keith like this?

* * *

"At least eat the apple, Lance. You haven't eaten all day."

Lance didn't shift from where he sat with his arms folded on the rickety cafeteria table, head buried in between. He could hear the busy chatter of other students bustling about, digging into their lunches before heading off to their lectures. "I told you I'm not hungry."

"We're in a cafeteria, Lance," Pidge pointed out flatly. "If you're not here to eat, then what are you here for?"

Shrugging, Lance could feel tears welling up thinking of the events of the previous day. "I don't even know," he forced out in a whisper, voice cracking and shaking with the effort not to cry. "Everything just went to complete shit all of a sudden."

After seeing an alarming number of missed calls from Lance, both Hunk and Pidge had called him in a frenzy soon after Keith had left. Hunk had called first and done his best to somehow console a distraught Lance over the phone. When Pidge had called, Lance had been in a much better state, able to at least hold a half decent conversation. He couldn't even remember what they had talked about. The alcohol had blotted out large chunks of his memories; except, of course, any memory that involved Keith.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Pidge soon questioned, tone tinged with concern. "You were pretty out of it on the phone yesterday."

A long, suffering sigh pushed past Lance's lips as he slowly raised his head, his gaze remaining downcast. His head was buzzing with a hangover and he still felt like a mess, body aching and eyes burning. He was grateful for looking so clearly hungover, because hardly anyone thought strangely of how red and puffy his eyes were or how close to tears he looked. Rubbing at his eyes a bit too roughly, he began recounting the events of the previous night, hoping his voice didn't give away how much he was hurting. On the phone he had only drunkenly told both his friends garbled accounts of what had happened. This time he tried to be as detailed as possible without giving away too much of his chaotic feelings. "Am I being unreasonable?" he asked once he was done catching his friends up.

"You're grieving, Lance." Hunk had his hands wrapped around a steaming cup of coffee, warm brown eyes filled with fondness and worry. "I don't think it's weird for you to react like that."

Even though Lance wasn't looking, he could somehow tell Pidge held a different opinion and was about to make that very clear. As expected, Pidge took a sip of tea before firing off. "It _is_ kinda shitty to hang out with your ridiculously hot ex-girlfriend while your really hot boyfriend's out providing for you."

"Quit acting like he's paying my rent," Lance bit back defiantly. "Besides, Nyma and I are both dating other people. It's not like I'm using her to replace Keith."

"You aren't?" Pidge cut in bluntly, gaze sharp and daring Lance to shoot off some sort of snarky reply.

But Lance didn't speak a word for an oddly long moment, one that seemed to stretch on forever. It took a few moments, but eventually, he finally met Pidge's eyes. "I might be," he murmured with a clear timbre of guilt to his voice. Judging by the little gasp that came from Hunk, he could imagine the shocked expression on his face. "Not intentionally, of course." Lance didn't have to think long to understand why things had turned out like this. "I thought I could deal with it. I thought I could get used to not seeing him. And sometimes it's fine. But sometimes it's not. I just…!" His mind in turmoil now, Lance couldn't put together a single sentence anymore. Too chaotic were his thoughts, too turbulent his emotions. Sadness, anger, disappointment, regret, guilt, and shame all had settled in every nook and cranny of his mind, making it impossible to feel anything else.

"Have you ever told him how hard it is on you?" Hunk asked him in a tone that was both demanding and gentle, leaving no room for half-assed answers.

Fingers nervously tangling into his sleeves, Lance shrugged. "Sort of." He could _feel_ Hunk's judging eyes boring into him over his distinctly half-assed answer.

"Just tell him to make time for you then," Pidge suggested nonchalantly, taking another sip of tea.

"It's not that easy." Frowning, Lance moodily averted his head away from his friends. "I don't want him to jeopardise his career for me and he knows that."

"You're both stupid," Pidge sighed, skilfully dodging the scathing glare Lance threw in response. "Why don't you just move in together?"

Lance had been readying a comeback to throw in, but Pidge's words froze him in place. Move in with Keith? Perhaps for other couples moving in with each other after a few months of dating was normal, but for Lance his relationship with Keith still felt incredibly fresh, still barely away from the starting line. With how little they saw each other and with them never going on dates, it for sure didn't feel like they had been dating for months, despite their almost daily phone calls. Still, it certainly sounded tempting. Keith's house was far too large for a single person anyway and after their many hangouts even before they had dated, to Lance it already felt like a second home. If he saw Keith more often, perhaps he would have begun the unconscious process of moving a lot of his belongings into Keith's house weeks ago. Perhaps they would have already discussed the possibility of living together. Maybe yesterday wouldn't have happened.

"You look like you want to," Hunk eventually broke the silence, tone a little disconcerted and with good reason. He _was_ Lance's roommate after all. Lance moving out would make rent impossible to pay for him on his own, so either he would have to find a new roommate or move out.

"I don't know what I want," Lance admitted, agitatedly running a hand through his hair. "Right now I don't even know if this thing with Keith is gonna work out at all." He could hear Hunk about to speak up and expected words of uplifting advice, but was ultimately interrupted by his phone ringing. Sending an apologetic glance to his friends, he left the table to accept the call. It was from his mother, who had been calling him more frequently again after his last visit. Realising that the hatchet was apparently buried finally put a small smile Lance's face. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

_"Lance?"_

"Yeah, mom, what's up?" He could hear how strained and shaky his voice still sounded, but hoped his mother wouldn't hear over the phone.

Instead of answering right away, his mother began talking to someone else, although the conversation was too muffled to make out. Eventually, she seemed to return to the phone with a sharp, long sigh. _"Your grandmother is in the hospital."_

The words doused Lance in ice-cold water, leaving him frozen and shocked. He had barely left the cafeteria before he was sinking down on a bench on campus, his legs losing strength. This wasn't the first time his grandmother had been admitted to a hospital, but considering her age, every visit became scarier and scarier as the years passed. "Is it serious?" When he received no answer from his mother, he understood. "Where is she?"

_"Same hospital as usual."_

"Okay," Lance replied quietly, resignation in his voice. "I'll be there soon." He hadn't planned on seeing his grandmother any time soon. She was precious family to him and Lance could never even imagine life without her, but he had heard her talk about people with "questionable life styles" enough to know what her stance was. And with how public his relationship with Keith was, there was no doubt in his mind she _knew_. She knew and soon he would have to face her.

Even on his way out, as Lance shot off a quick text to let Hunk and Pidge know what was going on, he could feel his thoughts beginning to wind down and circle in on a single emotion.

Pure and utter dread.

It began to slowly crawl its way through his system, taking hold of his every fibre until it felt as though it was choking him. He had the sudden urge to call Keith and hear his voice, have him comfort him somehow. But he couldn't. Not with how things were between them. Not after trying to reach out to Keith for comfort before and being met with silence. Getting to talk to Keith unless he called first was like winning the lottery. Just when he could feel himself descending into a dangerously dark place, his phone buzzing snapped Lance out of his daze. A thin smile spread on his lips seeing messages from Hunk that were overflowing with love and care, as well as Pidge's genuine encouragement. Having friends like this for sure made things more bearable.

If only things with Keith were this easy.

* * *

Lance only saw his brothers standing in the hallway out of the corner of his eye as he stormed out of the stuffy hospital room. He could hear them calling his name, panicked, but he was running now, too fast for their voices to reach him. The sound of his own thundering pulse thrummed in his ears as he tried to escape. He didn't even feel the countless shoulders and feet he bumped into on his way out, too occupied with trying not to cry. 

His grandmother's words continued replaying in his head like the broken film of a horror movie, stuck on the most gruesome moments.

_"Your parents didn't raise you like this!"_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"You're going to die!"_

_"Get out."_

Lance barrelled into a nurse who squeaked in surprise as she stumbled and let an armful of documents slip to the floor. Usually, Lance would have apologised profusely and helped her pick everything back up. But in this moment he couldn't care less and simply ran past her, ignoring her indignant shouts. He only vaguely knew where he was going, occasionally raising his head to look at the red arrows pointing towards the exit. Navigation was difficult with his sight blurred by unshed tears.

By the time he made it outside, he had a hand constantly rubbing over his eyes to wipe away the wetness. The sunlight was blinding, the air too fresh, too light. The pleasant weather was in stark contrast to the chaos in his mind, to the point it almost made everything worse. He would have preferred rain and thunder, people rushing to get inside to escape the torrents of water falling from the sky. With the weather this sunny and clear, he had to be faced with how happy everyone around him seemed.

Once he had gained some distance from the hospital, Lance gradually regained his composure. At the very least, he was able to suppress his tears. He was able to sit at the bus stop without attracting much attention, only occasionally reaching up to wipe stray moisture from the corners of his eyes. He could feel his hands shaking whenever he did, causing him to hastily bury them in his pockets to hide them. All around him people were invested in their own things and hardly paid attention to him. Lance did feel as though sometimes people around his own age would stare at him oddly. His face _was_ plastered all over news outlets after all. One only had to open any common celebrity news site and his face would be there. This was a moment in which he regretted going public with his relationship. He wanted nothing more than to disappear into the crowd, have no one pay him attention and see what a wreck he was. If he was unlucky, someone had already snapped a picture of him looking a mess and had uploaded that to some gossip site that would most likely theorise over what had him so upset – for example, the reason most likely being Keith, according to insiders with questionable credentials at least. It wouldn't be completely untrue in this case, but the real reason didn't matter as long as these scummy news sites could get their clicks. Lance almost regretted ever working in the business now that he was experiencing first-hand the sheer brunt of the media's watchful eye.

Lance was still in a bit of a daze when he got on the bus. He only vaguely knew where he was going, having unconsciously decided his destination the moment he had left the hospital. He didn't think it through. At least not until he was standing in front of Keith's house. Seeing the familiar high fences and cameras on all corners, he let out a sigh. It was unbearable to stay away from Keith. Being forced apart was difficult enough, but willingly keeping his distance was impossible. Lance knew his feet would have carried him here sooner or later, but even to him it was shocking how quickly he had caved. He was still angry and hurt, but more than anything, he wanted to be with Keith.

Resolving himself to his fate, Lance climbed the fence and casually walked up to the front door. With practiced ease he entered the code into the number pad next to the door and, after hearing the lock disengage, made his way inside. Naturally, the house was eerily empty. Keith was probably at that TV shoot or making music in his studio, leaving the house practically abandoned. It didn't seem as though he had been here recently; Lance wouldn't be surprised if the house had been empty for at least a week. Keith only ever came here when he had days off, otherwise he simply slept while travelling or whenever he had time and a surface to sleep on. He truly was horrible at taking care of himself.

His sigh dissipating into the vast emptiness of the house, Lance slowly made his way towards the living room. The house was silent, the absence of any noise from loud pipes or annoying neighbours still a little disturbing to Lance. Once he got to the couch, he found one of Keith's jackets haphazardly thrown across the back. He recognised it as one of the jackets Keith had worn during the press tour for his recent movie. Even though he felt like a creep doing it, Lance carefully picked it up and could instantly smell the faintest trace of something undeniably Keith. Perhaps it was detergent, a cologne, or some kind of hair product; all Lance knew was that it was comforting. Against his will, his legs lost strength and he sank into the couch with a small sigh of relief. Only now, when he was sitting, did he notice how his legs ached from running earlier. They burned with exhaustion, his muscles promising to go properly sore by the next day.

After kicking off his shoes, Lance pulled his legs up onto the couch and wrapped his arms around them. Keith's jacket remained at his side, sitting there like a grim reminder of his fight with the pop-star. As he traced the neat seams of the jacket, Lance once again wondered how he was supposed to maintain this relationship if he couldn't even meet Keith to talk things out. Once again, he needed comfort from his boyfriend, but Keith was nowhere to be found. Lance knew it wasn't Keith's fault that his life was going down the drain at the moment, but he couldn't help feeling insignificant and frustrated at being passed over for lifeless cameras or the dim inside of a recording studio.

With nothing to distract his mind, gradually his grandmother's words exploded through Lance's head, echoing like a bell far too big for its housing. The tears he had held back for so long suddenly spilled out, now running down his cheeks in a steady stream. Sobs shook his entire frame as he slowly sank down into the couch.

 _"_ **_Get out_ ** _."_

The words haunted him, swirling around his head like a curse. Each time they echoed anew, they stabbed him like daggers, relentlessly tearing him apart from the inside out. Lance remained like that for so long his head began to ache. The only thing that made him slowly stop crying was his own exhaustion. The seductive whispers of sleep soon engulfed him, whisking him into unconscious. As he fell asleep, Lance's last thought was the wish that at least his dreams would provide respite.

* * *

A dull but loud thud instantly woke Lance up and made him shoot upright on the couch. He was surrounded by pitch-black darkness, indicating he had slept long enough for the sun to go down. As he tried to make sense of the situation, the thuds continued, sounding as though someone was clumsily bumping into a door. Lance debated going to the front door to check what was going on, but feared what he would find. Gulping, he decided to simply stay where he was and wait.

After more clumsy commotion at the front door came the sound of the code-protected door being unlocked. Lance held his breath as he listened, heart thudding in his chest. Following a muffled click, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling lit up and momentarily blinded Lance, prompting him to throw his arms up and protect his eyes. When he heard a strange shuffling and sliding noise, he forced his eyes open a little and blinked through the sudden brightness. Vision still unadjusted, he could make out a vague silhouette leaning against the wall of the corridor leading to the front door. Eventually, he was able to fully open his eyes and lowered his arms, surprise taking over his face.

"Keith…" he mumbled, taking in his boyfriend's absolutely dishevelled appearance.

With sweat pearling on his forehead, his face flushed but his overall pallor sickly, Keith looked ill, to say the least. When his gaze met Lance's shocked one, his eyes widened impossibly. But when he tried to utter something, perhaps an exclamation of shock, one of his legs suddenly gave away and he bumped against the wall, sliding down until he was on the floor.

Seeing him collapse like that, Lance finally realised that the thudding had been Keith trying to somehow walk while supporting himself against anything he could lean on. And before he could even give it a second thought, Lance was running towards his boyfriend, hastily falling to his knees beside him. "Keith!" he shouted, his concern only increasing seeing how much more pitiful Keith looked up close. "What's wrong? Are you sick? What happened?" Never before had Lance seen him like this. Keith was obviously in pain, completely unable to hide it. Knowing he was the type to hide his pain to not worry people only made his pained facial expression that much more difficult to stomach. "Please don't lie again, Keith," Lance pleaded when he could see Keith already thinking up ways to talk himself out of having to reveal the truth. "I don't think I can take any more today."

Hearing how broken and small Lance sounded seemed to rob Keith of all his defences, leaving him completely exposed to Lance's earnest request. Hesitantly, he reached up to wrap a hand around Lance's arm, slowly letting his head drop onto his shoulder and hiding his face. "It's my leg."

"What?" Finally realising that Keith was holding a hand protectively around his left leg, realisation dawned on Lance. "What's wrong with your leg?" He could feel in the way his boyfriend tensed up that Keith didn't want to tell him the truth. His hesitation only fuelled Lance's fear, making him gulp and wonder just what kind of horrific state his leg was in. "Please… tell me."

Although he remained still for a long time, Keith eventually began to talk. "Do you remember that accident Shiro and I got into in highschool?" He waited until he could feel Lance nodding before continuing. "You know that Shiro's arm got really messed up and that he was in a coma for a while, right? But there were details about that accident that never made it into the news." After going silent briefly, he took in a shaky breath. "There was actually a third car involved in the accident. And my… my left leg was almost completely shattered." Keith suddenly radiated sorrow and frustration, despite his face remaining hidden. "I had to get multiple surgeries and go through rehab just to be able to walk again. Do you remember when I was suddenly gone from school for half a year 'preparing for my debut'? I was actually in a hospital or in bed that entire time."

Picturing it made Lance's blood run cold. While he had clumsily gone through his last months of high school, trying to make it to graduation with decent grades and get a girlfriend, Keith had been confined to a bed by himself that entire time. Imagining how much Keith must have suffered, a thought suddenly hit Lance. One that made him remember the day he had decided to part ways with Keith; at least for a while. It made him remember the moment he had realised Keith may have a problem when it came to pain medication. "Is that when you started… taking pain killers?" The way Keith sheepishly nodded, face still buried in his shoulder, made Lance unconsciously wrap his arms around him in hopes of somehow comforting him.

"They put a metal rod in my leg to stabilise the bone while it healed, but I could feel that goddamn rod just… inside my leg constantly and it…" Voice cracking, Keith could barely get the words out. "It sucked," he lamented. "I know I shouldn't have, but I kept dancing, so by the time the rod was taken out, it was bent. That time was the angriest I've ever seen Shiro. For a minute there I thought he would never stop yelling."

Slowly, Lance was putting two and two together. As much as it pained him to think about, he was beginning to understand what Keith was going through. "If your leg's still not fine after all these years, then…" Receiving no answer at all was answer enough to Lance. "Aren't you going on tour again once your new album comes out? Can you even dance with your leg like this?"

"I have to," Keith immediately replied resolutely. "Do you have any idea how many people's livelihood is riding on me being on stage? I can't just quit dancing cause my leg aches a little."

"This isn't just a little ache!" Lance suddenly exploded, pushing Keith away so he could glare at him directly, an angry fire in his eyes. "You're in pain! You can't even walk properly right now! Do you really think anyone's gonna be happy seeing you like this? Do you really want your fans to pay money just to see their idol suffering?"

"I won't let it show," Keith countered sternly. "I've been doing it for years, Lance. I'll just keep doing it. No one will know."

" _I'LL_ KNOW!" Angry tears threatening to fall from his heated eyes, the tone of Lance's voice grew more desperate and hysteric the further he went on. Already he had trouble keeping his breathing even, rage, frustration, and sadness all making it difficult to remain level-headed. "I'll notice! Any time I see you on stage, I'll feel like shit! I already feel like shit right now for watching you on stage so many times and never noticing how much pain you were in! You have _no_ idea how horrible that feels! Don't do this to your fans!"

Lance's words seemed to finally strike a chord within Keith, because instead of throwing out another calculated rebuttal, his shoulders sagged and resignation took over his face. "I used to enjoy dancing, you know," he began quietly, voice unusually meek. "It was my escape. I could spend hours in a practice room working on the same bit of a choreography. Seeing even the tiniest improvement was my everything." There were no tears in his eyes, yet his gaze shimmered with an unshed wetness. "But now it just hurts. Some days I can barely get through half an hour of practice without my leg hurting so much I wanna hack it off." 

Simply watching as Keith spoke about dancing was enough to know how much his injury tormented him. "Do you hate it now? Dancing, you know."

Keith didn't have an immediate answer. As he pondered, he searched Lance's face, as though the answer was hidden in those concerned pools of azure. "I don't know. I just… don't want to stop."

"I know," Lance simply answered.

Looking to be comforted by the answer, Keith slumped together a little. Perhaps this entire time all he had needed was an opportunity to vent his troubles. "I'm sorry about your birthday." He paused to take in the slightly angry frown that took over Lance's face. "I know you might not believe me, but I actually did get you a birthday present, I just… lost track of what day it was and forgot. I swear."

"I believe you," Lance murmured, albeit reluctantly. Unable to suppress his curiosity for long, Lance eventually grew impatient. "So? What is it? What's this great present of yours?"

At first stunned by how easily Lance had accepted the apology, Keith eventually pulled his phone from his pocket and began searching for something. "I know you don't like me buying you… _things_ ," he began explaining after a while, "so I thought this might be a good present."

Puzzled, Lance took a glance when Keith held out his phone. At first, none of what he was seeing made sense. Until he got to the bottom of the page. "Mould removal? What…" He trailed off, suddenly recalling the time he had off-handedly complained about the mould beginning to grow in his and Hunk's apartment. It was troubling, to say the least. With Hunk's mould allergy, if it grew to a certain point there would be no way around moving out. But with their lease and both being tight on money, moving would put considerable strain on both of them. A mould removal had been out of the question; neither of them had money for something like that. "Keith–"

"I'll have them call you soon so you can set up a date," Keith explained, finally taking back his phone from a still stunned Lance. "Don't even try to reject it by saying it's too expensive or something! I already paid for it, so it's happening whether you want it to or not! Also this isn't just for you but for Hunk too! It's for both of your health, so–"

"Thanks," Lance cut off Keith's rambling, his smile genuine. "It's a great present. You really thought about it a lot, huh?" He had to suppress mirthful laughter seeing Keith squirm with embarrassment. Lance knew full well his boyfriend wanted nothing more than to play it all off and pretend like this was just a casual thing he had done without much thought, when it clearly was the exact opposite. "I'm sorry for hanging out with my ex. I–"

"I don't blame you," Keith cut in flatly, expression suddenly surprisingly neutral. "I wasn't there, so you had every right to go to someone else."

Lance could only stare at Keith in surprise; he hadn't expected him to be this amicable over their fight. Truthfully, he still wasn't over Livia's death by any means, but his friends had all helped him get through the worst parts of grieving. Keith being there would have helped tremendously, but ultimately he had other people he could rely on. "Well… still… sorry." When silence settled, Lance finally noticed the odd tension hanging between them. The air seemed thick with tension, but it wasn't unpleasant. They were close enough for their breaths to mingle and for parts of their bodies to touch. Keith's intense gaze was burning into him and once it shifted a little below his eyes, Lance understood what was happening. Seeing Keith hesitate once again, Lance took the initiative and leaned forward to capture his lips in a gentle kiss. In a way, it was symbol of them resolving their conflict, laden with apologies and promises. When Lance pulled away, he sneakily gave Kiss a peck on the nose. "I'm staying over tonight."

Although he seemed stunned at first, Keith eventually nodded with a hint of resignation in his tired eyes.

Lance found a great deal of pleasure in teasing Keith by shooting him a suggestive smirk and telling look. He could almost see the many little gears in Keith's brain grinding to a halt as realisation dawned on him. "I wanna tear off your pants…" Lance whispered, leaning in until his lips brushed over Keith's ear with every word, "so I can ice your leg." As mirthful chuckles fell from his lips, Lance felt a fist hitting him in the shoulder with enough power it almost knocked him to the floor. "Want me to princess carry you to your bed?" he asked in a sickeningly sweet voice, nursing his aching shoulder. 

"No thanks," Keith immediately refused flatly. "I don't trust you enough not to let me fall."

Miffed at the lack of confidence in his rippling muscles and bodybuilder level strength, Lance took it upon himself to simply pick Keith up against his will. Ignoring all the insults and demands to "go fuck off", Lance pulled him into his arms with surprising ease. When he rose to his feet with Keith in his arms, his legs shook but Lance tried his hardest to play it off. Keith was much, much heavier than he had anticipated. The guy looked like a beanpole, skinny and bony at first glance, but Lance knew for a fact that he packed a surprising amount of muscle mass. And yet he was still taken aback by how heavy Keith truly was.

"Put me down before you pull a muscle." Keith's ice-cold tone dripped with poison, his dark gaze promising pain should his demands not be met. Despite his words, he made no move to struggle physically in any way; perhaps out of fear that Lance would actually drop him, or because somewhere in his heart he had already accepted the situation.

Lance continued to tune out whatever his boyfriend was saying and instead made his way to the bedroom. He tried his best to maintain a steady speed that was neither too slow or too fast, making sure to remain as steady as possible as he walked. On the outside it definitely looked like carrying Keith was no big deal to him. Meanwhile, in reality he could feel his legs gradually going weaker and weaker, sweat already pearling on his temples from exertion. His breathing was growing ragged despite his best efforts. Lucky for him, he was already stepping through Keith's bedroom door when he began feeling light-headed. Resisting the urge to simply fling Keith on the bed and be free of his stupidly compact body mass, Lance made sure to set him down gently on top of the sheets. Lance forced himself to breathe evenly and wordlessly went about undressing Keith as his heart rate slowly calmed back down. First his jacket, then his shoes and socks, followed by his pants. True to his word, Lance then disappeared towards the kitchen and returned with an ice pack and a small hand towel.

"You don't have to do all this," Keith murmured sheepishly, turning his face away and hiding his expression.

Lance could only assume that Keith's embarrassment was showing on his face, so he was trying to hide it. "I like doing this though," he replied, a content smile on his face as he wrapped the ice pack in the towel and gently pressed it against the part of Keith's leg he had seen him hold before he had collapsed earlier. "Does it… hurt a lot?" All he received in response was a curt nod. He didn't have any space to think about the fact that Keith was technically half naked. All Lance could think about were ways he could perhaps somehow ease Keith's pain, even if just a little. For a while, he continued diligently pressing the ice pack onto Keith's leg, feeling his boyfriend's hawk eyes watching his every move. Once the ice pack warmed up to the point it became useless, Lance opted to instead massage Keith's leg, careful not to somehow aggravate his pain. "What do you usually do when it hurts?"

Keith sent Lance a weary look, as though he was debating whether he should even answer. "I ignore it. Or I take painkillers."

There was a lot left unsaid in that answer. Judging by the jaded look in Keith's downcast eyes, there was for sure some kind of story there. Watching him, Lance could tell he was in pain. Not horrible enough to make him grimace or even utter a sound, but bad enough that he looked sickly pale and strangely tense. When Lance saw him grinding his teeth, a haunting realisation suddenly crept up him. "Do you always grind your teeth when you're in pain?"

As though he had been caught red-handed, Keith unconsciously covered his mouth with a surprised look. "I guess. Why?"

Like water pouring through a broken dam, memories suddenly flooded Lance's mind. All the times he had noticed Keith grinding his teeth and dismissed it as merely a bad habit flashed before his eyes, making it painfully clear just how often Keith was in pain. For him to have hidden it so well this entire time was shocking enough, but much more horrifying was the knowledge that Lance had never suspected anything. "I… had no idea."

Keith noticed the sudden shift in atmosphere and released an exasperated sigh in response. "I didn't want you to know. I've been dealing with this for years, Lance. There was no way for you to notice unless I told you."

"Or unless I showed up at your house without telling you and caught you off guard while you were in too much pain to hide it." Lance couldn't quite keep the accusatory edge out of his voice. He didn't want to blame Keith or be angry at him, but he couldn't place the turbulent emotion clouding his mind at the moment. Whether it was anger at Keith or himself that he was feeling, he couldn't tell. Realising he had stopped massaging Keith's leg, Lance wordlessly resumed his ministrations. Even if he had wanted to, he wouldn't have known what to say anyway. He even feared thinking and letting his thoughts roam free. He dreaded one particular thought: if he hadn't found out by chance, would Keith have ever told him on his own? What else was he hiding? A single question lead to countless many more, filling Lance with doubt and uncertainty.

"Sorry for not telling you," Keith suddenly murmured, gaze still turned downwards. "I hate being like this in front of people."

At last, Lance felt the knot of convoluted emotions in his chest unfurling somewhat. Receiving an apology from Keith was rare and within a single night he had received several already. Despite not wanting to be too hopeful about Keith ever being fully honest, Lance felt optimistic for the future. "Do you hate me doing all of this?"

Keith briefly met Lance's warm gaze, but instantly looked away again as though spooked by the fondness he found in his eyes. "It… It's fine. I don't mind."

Watching the downright sheepish reaction, Lance stopped massaging Keith's leg and instead began staring him down. No matter how long he looked at him, Keith never turned to meet his eyes. Amused by the sudden bout of shyness, Lance leaned in until his lips almost touched Keith's ear and began to whisper. "You know, there's ways I can distract you for a while."

Finally, with his interest piqued, Keith regained his composure enough to turn towards Lance again. "What're you–"

The moment Keith was close enough, Lance cut him off with a kiss. And before Keith could even process what was happening, Lance began pushing him down into his pillows and climbed on top of him, never separating their lips. He heard Keith let out a surprised little gasp, followed immediately by a moan when Lance's tongue slid over his. Determined to elicit more of those noises, Lance let his hands wander along the lines of Keith's body. He savoured every dip and rise of muscle, every brush of skin, every shaky intake of air, all until he slowly approached the waistband of Keith's underwear. Just when he began dipping his fingers into the inviting heat, the world suddenly tilted and for a moment it felt as though he was falling. The next moment his back hit the bed and he was looking up at Keith. "Uh…"

"You started this," Keith growled, sounding both turned on and pissed off. "Don't complain later."

Seeing the hunger burning in Keith's eyes, Lance gulped, suddenly a little regretful for purposely riling Keith up. "Be gentle." A chill ran down his spine when he saw Keith's eyes light up with an almost predatory glint.

"I can't guarantee anything."

Keith's dangerously low voice made Lance freeze in place, a shudder rocking his entire body. If Keith ever talked like that directly into his ear, he would probably die on the spot. Simply hearing him up close like this made him feel like he was slowly drowning, heart racing and his blood rapidly rushing downwards. With slightly shaky hands he reached up to pull Keith down into another searing kiss, before wrapping his arms around his neck to have something to hold on to, something to ground him. It was almost embarrassing how effortlessly Keith could drive Lance crazy with want, but also comfort him at the same time.

"Lance?" Judging by the concern in his voice, Keith seemed aware that something was off.

Being asked directly only made the memories come back more fiercely, nearly droning out any other thought in Lance's mind. He was hugging Keith tightly by now, having abandoned the kiss in favour of hiding his face in his boyfriend's shoulder. The echoes of his grandmother's parting words seemed to ricochet off the inside of his skull, never losing in volume or venom. Every detail of them, the tone they had been spoken in, the angry tinge that seemed to increase with every word, the disbelieving shake of his grandmother's voice. They were all burned so fiercely into his memory, Lance feared they may even haunt his dreams. "My grandma was admitted to a hospital today," he suddenly began quietly, unable to find the power to speak above a broken whisper. He received no answer and figured Keith was going to simply hear him out first. Strangely enough, that made it easier to get the words out. "She kept questioning me about stuff she saw on the news and tried to pressure me into saying it's all fake. It didn't matter what I said, Keith. She didn't to listen to me at all." Slowly, his voice grew less steady, every word a challenge to get past his lips. "She kept asking me if I'm gay now and I couldn't… I couldn't even answer her! She wouldn't stop yelling and just kept getting angrier and angrier and I–"

"Lance," Keith suddenly cut in gently. His arms around Lance's shaking body were warm, comforting. "I'm sure she still loves you. She's your grandma. That doesn't suddenly change overnight, you know."

Feeling tears well up, Lance simply nodded; there was no telling how he would sound if he spoke now. But despite his best efforts, he couldn't quite banish the wetness from his eyes. "I asked my dad about what happened to my uncle. And why grandma is… like that." Lance paused to nervously bite at his lips. "My uncle came out as gay when he was in college. Came home with his boyfriend and everything. Grandma wasn't a huge fan of it even then, but at least she sorta tolerated it. But then my uncle's boyfriend suddenly died. It was the 80s, you know." He could feel Keith nodding slightly, glad he didn't have to elaborate for him to understand. Even though he had never had much of a connection to that part of history, thinking about it now suddenly felt like picking at an unhealed wound. "A while after that… my uncle had that drug overdose and died too. It wasn't… something that anyone ever talked about after it happened, so it just became this family secret." Keith was still silent, seeming intent on listening to his every word. "I just don't know what to tell my grandma. I get why she's like that. I really do. I just…"

Keith let out a quiet huff, before pulling away from Lance to hover above him. The look in his eyes ways unreadably neutral and didn't give away any particular emotion. "I don't have a family, so I don't really know what to tell you," he admitted, something like regret passing over his face. "My first instinct is to always cut off people who I don't get along with. It's easier than trying to make things work." He briefly searched Lance's face, as though trying to gauge his thoughts. "But you can't do that, huh?"

Numbly shaking his head, Lance suddenly felt incredibly defeated. He had given his grandmother an ample amount of time to warm up to the idea of her grandson dating a guy. Lance had naively assumed that with enough time, perhaps she would come around and begin to tolerate it. But months had passed since the news of him dating Keith had broke and still she couldn't accept it. It made him lose faith in her ever accepting the relationship; especially with the little amount of time they had left together.

"I'm sorry."

Seeing the pain in Keith's eyes as he murmured those words, barely audible, Lance immediately pulled him down into another hug. "It's not your fault."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the kinda abrupt end there. I was going to write more, but after editing the chapter I'm too tired to write anything more. I might come back to it to tack on a sentence or two. By the way, if Keith's leg story sounds familiar, please let me know in a comment. You guys are my people.
> 
> As usual, I'll probably update again in a couple weeks. Until then, hope you enjoy this cheaper!


	7. I – IV – V

_"I'm taking you to the doctor tomorrow, got that?"_

"If it makes you feel better," Keith sighed, slumping together a little on his living room couch. He didn't think any doctor could ever truly fix his leg, but if a visit would put Shiro's mind at ease, why not bite the bullet? He had gone through this with Shiro often enough to know that even if he was used to the pain, Shiro was not. Simply knowing Keith was in pain always put Shiro in a state of perpetual worry. Keith saying he was fine had no sway whatsoever, so the only thing that could truly ease Shiro's concern was doctor's visit to make sure Keith's leg wasn't somehow getting worse. 

_"And you're sure I don't have to come?"_

"Lance is here," Keith tried to reassure his manager and friend. "I'll be fine."

 _"If you say so."_ Although reluctantly, Shiro seemingly resigned himself to leaving Keith's health in someone else's hands for once. Although Shiro trusted Lance a great deal, in his eyes taking care of Keith was no simple matter. _"Make sure to tell him when you're in any pain at all. Don't hide it. He probably can't tell yet when you're in pain unless you tell him."_

With a sudden urge to see his boyfriend overpowering his remaining sleepiness, Keith got up from the couch and headed back to his bedroom. "He _did_ figure out the teeth-grinding." Inside his bedroom he found Lance still sleeping soundly in his bed, now in a vastly different position than he had last seen him.

 _"I guess that's a good start."_ Relief could be heard in Shiro's voice, even through the distortion of the phone. _"Make sure you take care of yourself and get better, okay? I can rearrange your schedule for today and tomorrow, but rescheduling stuff beyond that is gonna be tough. Sorry I can't do more."_

"No, it's fine. Thanks, Shiro." Just as he was about to say his good-bye to Shiro, Lance shifted on the bed with a quiet grumble. The already precariously laid blanket slid away when he turned and revealed the full length of his body, like a curtain sliding away to reveal a beautiful painting. At some point during the night Lance had gotten rid of his pants, leaving him only in a thin T-shirt and briefs that perfectly showed off his long, slender legs.

 _"Rescheduling with the recording studio shouldn't be too hard,"_ Shiro continued, unaware that Keith's attention was straying elsewhere. _"I'll have to cancel that booking for that web show though."_

"Uh huh," Keith replied absent-mindedly, too occupied with running his eyes all over the vast stretches of exposed skin before his eyes. He had never really noticed before, but Lance had surprisingly nice legs. Not too bony or plump, with a nicely balanced shape. His thighs, although somewhat thin, had some muscle on them. Enough that it made Keith want to trail his lips over them and leave marks.

 _"The new choreographer wanted to have a meeting soon."_ Still, Shiro was under the impression that Keith was listening to him. _"You think you can meet him the day after tomorrow? I think there might be a contractual issue with some of the dancers he was going to bring in and he wanted your opinion."_

"Sure."

Judging by the silence that followed, Shiro seemed to finally catch on that something was off. _"You listening?"_ No answer. _"Keith?"_

"What?" Keith had been enraptured by the little stretch of skin exposed by Lance's shirt riding up along his stomach and waist.

A distorted sigh came from Shiro, who sounded more like an exasperated father than a celebrity's manager. _"You're not listening."_

"Yeah, no," Keith replied absent-mindedly, fingers already itching to trail along that alluringly dark skin.

 _"I'll call again later,"_ Shiro sighed, probably running a hand through his hair in exasperation. _"Get better. See you."_

Keith responded with little more than a hum, before shoving his phone in his pocket and finally heading towards the bed where Lance was still sleeping. Although he had meant to wake Lance up, his hand moved almost on its own and came down firmly on Lance's thigh. In his sleep, Lance sighed and Keith's heart rate picked up at the thought that it could be a reaction to his touch. He then gulped, realising that what he was doing was just a little creepy. Then again, something about this being a little strange to do made it that much more exhilarating. Keith's attention was then directed at the jagged discolourations he found across Lance's thigh and running up into his briefs. They looked like old stretch marks – probably from a sudden growth spurt – but all Keith could really think about was wanting to see how far up they went.

As though awoken by the horny mess that was Keith's thoughts, Lance began to stir and grumbled as he slowly opened his eyes. "Keith?" he asked sleepily, finding his boyfriend already staring down at him. "What're you doing up?"

Unable to hide his amused smirk at Lance's still sleep-laden voice, Keith shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't sleep a lot." This was probably a good time to remove his hand, but by this point Keith's hand was practically glued to Lance's thigh. "I called Shiro and told him I'm staying home for today." Even though Lance had just woken up, Keith could see his eyes light up with excitement.

"I have a day off," Lance murmured, almost in awe. He suddenly sat up, now nearly close enough their lips could easily touch. "I'm staying here today."

A lopsided grin appeared on Keith's face seeing the determination in Lance's eyes, like he was going to fight him if he was denied. "Sure, be my guest."

After letting out a happy chuckle, Lance seemed to finally notice the hand on his thigh and peered down with confusion. "Uh…" When his inquisitive reaction was only met with a decisive squeeze to his thigh, he couldn't fully muffle a surprised squeak. "S-Something up?"

Keith noted how Lance squirmed nervously under his gaze and committed the sight to memory. "I'm gonna make breakfast. Get out of bed soon."

"S-Sure."

With some trouble, Keith reluctantly let go of Lance's thigh and left before he could be enticed to do something else. Already, he knew he wouldn't last the whole day being around Lance without ever falling to temptation.

* * *

It was still strange to see Keith in a kitchen. In general, seeing Keith doing any kind of everyday task was odd. Even as his boyfriend Lance was not very used to a Keith that wasn't on stage, dancing, acting, or doing other celebrity things. Despite their many hangouts even before they had begun dating, more often than not Lance saw Keith on TV or online. Simply seeing Keith in person was surreal enough, but him in a kitchen clumsily flipping pancakes was a whole new level of bizarre.

"Just flip them with a spatula, you moron," Lance chided when Keith butchered his third pancake by flipping it out of the pan and right on the floor.

"Shut up!" As though out of spite, Keith continued on with his next pancake, the few he had actually succeeded in making gradually going cold on the counter.

Sighing, Lance got off his chair and grabbed the plate of oddly shaped pancakes and doused them in maple syrup, before going back to his seat. "Never ever go on a cooking show."

"Too late," Keith grumbled as he flipped his next pancake and actually succeeded. His triumphant little fist bump did not go unnoticed.

Although stumped by the revelation, soon a grin was spreading on Lance's face. "What did you do?"

Keith clicked his tongue at Lance implying he couldn't have gone on a cooking show without messing something up. Which wasn't entirely off base. "I set the stuffed peppers for the main course on fire and they had to edit around it."

Lance nearly choked on a bite of pancake and was reduced to a coughing, giggling mess for a moment, while Keith angrily continued bumbling his way through making pancakes.

Their breakfast continued like that until the end, both bantering and throwing little jabs at each other. Lance laughing at Keith being so incompetent at cooking only made the pop-star pour all his anger into cooking. Keith ended up absolutely drowning his mangled pancakes in maple syrup and butter, sending a little curse at his diet plan. "Don't say a fucking word to Shiro," he warned Lance while threateningly pointing his syrupy fork at his boyfriend. Once they were done eating, Keith looked down at himself and found himself covered in all kinds of gunk from cooking, then promptly headed off towards his bathroom for a shower. Left by himself, Lance took it upon himself to clean up the kitchen. With the taste of the weirdly salty pancakes still lingering in his mouth, he vowed to just get up early and make breakfast instead of Keith next time. He wasn't a great cook but at least he was confident in his ability to not set anything on fire.

When Lance finished putting away the clean dishes, Keith strolled into the kitchen still dripping from his shower, dressed only in strangely patterned purple sweatpants and with a towel around his neck. Him pushing his wet bangs out of his face made Lance's eyes go straight to his muscular arms, which only lead his gaze further down. Water droplets dribbled down the chiseled curves of Keith's chest, slowly sliding across his toned stomach and into the waistband of his sweatpants. With a gulp, Lance forced his eyes towards Keith's face, where he realised with a start that he was being watched. The smirk on Keith's face undeniably meant he knew exactly what was going through Lance's mind. 

"D-Dry your hair," Lance stuttered, eyes looking at anything _but_ Keith. "You're gonna get water all over the floor."

Keith used the towel around his neck to languidly pat the back of his hair, when his eyes lit up with some kind of idea. "Mind helping me?"

Seeing the mischievous smile, Lance was hesitant to agree. "How exactly?" He should have known that smirk meant trouble, but it wasn't like he would ever say no to Keith.

* * *

The TV blared with the noise of an obscure 90s sci-fi movie, while the rest of the house was eerily quiet. Or at least it should have been, if not for the sound of a blowdryer breaking up the otherwise eery atmosphere of the large, virtually unused house.

"Why do you have so much hair," Lance mumbled to himself with an annoyed edge, determined to make Keith's mop of hair less of a mess. Meanwhile, Keith was strangely focused on the movie, his eyes never straying from the screen. Sitting on the floor between Lance's legs, who was sitting on the couch, he was being unusually docile. Both of them were essentially still half-naked, Lance in a shirt and briefs while Keith was only wearing his godawful purple sweatpants. Safe for the occasional comment on the movie, they were silent, both focused on their respective things.

After some time, Lance thought to ask how Keith was doing, but wasn't sure if addressing his pain was somehow taboo. Keith hated showing or expressing weakness more than anything, so getting him to admit that he wasn't feeling well would be tough. Nonetheless, in the end, concern won out and Lance momentarily turned off the blowdryer. "Is your leg the reason you randomly skip out on bookings and events and shit?"

Although Keith seemed like he would not answer, eventually he did muster up the motivation to speak. "Sometimes."

Lance nodded sagely at the answer and for a while simply ran a comb through Keith's incredibly tangled hair. Although he seemed calm on the outside, in reality he was frantically cycling through possible ways to ask Keith if he was hurting at all. He didn't want to make him feel pitied, but there seemed to be no way to ask without doing so.

"I'm fine," Keith suddenly murmured darkly.

Judging by the tone of his voice, Lance could tell Keith was in fact _not_ fine. The words almost seemed like a much too obvious lie, badly concealed to allow Lance to easily see through the ruse. "Is there a way to make you feel even _more_ fine?"

"Just…" Keith seemed to choke on his words a little, shoulders growing a little stiff as he pondered his words. "Just stay. Like this. It's nice."

Lance had one of his hands in Keith's hair, soothingly running it along his scalp whenever his other hand brushed through his hair with the comb. It was a head massage as much as it was meant to detangle Keith's hair. He had hoped it would relax Keith even just a little and apparently it was working.

After that, they continued in relative silence, Lance continuing to blow-dry the parts of Keith's hair that seemed to never quite dry. The movie had ended by the time Lance was working on the hair above Keith's right ear. What played next was a bland rom-com that only contributed to the quiet lull surrounding the two; things weren't quite as peaceful as they seemed though. Sometimes Keith's hair would tickle Lance's bare legs and make him flinch, but over time he got used to the strange sensation. Every now and then Keith seemed to lean into his legs, but Lance couldn't tell if it was intentional or not. At first he thought nothing of it, but when he was almost done blowdrying his boyfriend's hair, Keith began running a hand up Lance's leg. Now Lance was certain all those touches earlier had been intentional. But before he could call Keith out on it, Keith lightly bit at the inside of his knee and followed it up with a kiss.

For a while Lance tried to ignore the kisses and touches, determined to get through brushing Keith's hair without giving him the reaction he wanted, but ultimately he gave in. "Hey, stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?" Keith asked innocently, pressing another kiss against Lance's thigh, making him flinch.

" _That_!" Lance barked angrily. "I'm gonna get hard if you keep doing that!"

Instead of stopping, Keith merely chuckled. "I don't mind. Just hump my head and get off or something."

"I'd never do something that pathetic, you shit-head." Lance accentuated his words with a light chop to the top of Keith's head.

"Ouch…"

After being chastised, Keith did end up staying docile for a bit. Before he could get the idea to continue his mischief, Lance decided to engage him in conversation. "How much fan-mail do you get?"

"Enough to fill a warehouse," Keith sighed, shoulders deflating. "It's gotten less over the years cause it's easier to send messages over social media, but it's still a lot. A lot of gifts. Expensive stuff too. I never knew what to do with all of it."

Lance hummed in response, unable to even imagine the sheer volume of things from fans that were sent to Keith on a daily basis, whether it was online messages or actual gifts. "Do you ever reply to messages? Sometimes I see people freaking out online cause you replied to a private message, but I never know if they're real."

"I answer a couple messages here and there," Keith said nonchalantly, shrugging a little. "It doesn't take a lot of time and it makes people happy, so why not." Keith seemed to notice that Lance had stilled, the hairbrush he had been using uselessly hanging in his hand. While Lance was overcome with affection for him and trying to process being hit with this mountain of fondness, Keith simply went ahead and pressed his lips against his knee again, his hand keeping it in place with a firm grasp but eventually wandering up to his thigh with devious little strokes. Suddenly, he froze, a bewildered frown on his face. "Did you–"

"Don't say it," Lance cut him off in a panic, an embarrassed flush heating his skin. He squirmed where he sat and desperately tried to somehow get some distance from Keith without making things more obvious. And even though he couldn't actually see his face, Lance could tell Keith was absolutely glowing with self-satisfaction. "I don't just randomly pop boners at the drop of a hat, okay! It's cause you–!" He stopped himself and bit his tongue when he realised that anything he said now would only sound like a desperate excuse. "I hate that you're so goddamn smug about it! Stop!" Again, despite Keith's face not being visible, Lance knew exactly what expression he was wearing. "Stop smirking!"

"I haven't even said anything," Keith said shakily through a bout of badly suppressed laughter.

To punish him and his stupidly melodious laughter, Lance proceeded to haphazardly blow-dry his bangs – read: his face – as well as violently brush the knots out of his hair. For a while, Keith remained obedient, safe for the occasional pained expletive. But not for long. What a surprise. Soon enough, he was back to sliding his hands over Lance's legs and placing chaste kisses on his knees, sometimes even the inside of his thighs. Nothing Lance did seemed to deter him. Not kicking him in the sides, not blasting cold air in his face with the blowdryer, not slapping him on the forehead.

Eventually, Lance resorted to plain threats. "Stop, or I'll crush your head with my thighs."

"Yes, please."

Face flushing with embarrassed heat, Lance finally threw the blowdryer on the couch next to him and escaped.

"Where are you going?" Keith asked in a deceptively innocent voice, mirth in his tone. "My bangs are still wet!"

"Dry them yourself!" Lance barked back indignantly, already running towards the bathroom to escape his boyfriend. "I'm taking a shower!" He could distantly hear Keith chuckling to himself and felt the flush on his face expanding to the rest of his body. How was he supposed to survive the day if he couldn't even last this long?

* * *

While Lance took his shower, Keith briefly entertained the thought of following him into the bathroom, but figured that would only spook them both. As much as he wanted to mercilessly ravage Lance, something told him he wasn't actually ready to go any further than they already had. Keith had absolutely no experience with this kind of normal romantic relationship and he knew Lance had never been with a guy before in any capacity. Not that Keith really counted his own experiences, considering he hadn't exactly been in his right mind during most of those times. 

"Keith, have you seen my pants?"

The voice woke Keith from his musings and pulled his attention to Lance, who was entering the room in nothing but briefs and a sweatshirt he had borrowed from Keith. He was dripping with water, his hair still barely dried. Considering what a neat freak he usually was about his appearance, this was a surprising but endearing change. Inevitably, Keith's gaze wandered down to Lance's legs. They were glistening with water, droplets sinfully running down Lance's thighs, over his knees and all the way to his ankles. It was almost overwhelming how tightly and hotly the coil of want in Keith's gut winded as he watched Lance move around the room. "Forget about your pants," he suddenly growled, surprising even himself with how turned on he sounded. "Come here."

"What?" Lance was frantically running around looking for his abandoned pants, only some of his attention on Keith. "But I'm still half-naked!"

"Sit."

When Lance finally turned towards him, Keith could see him gulp nervously, something that told him Lance _knew_. He watched as Lance slowly approached until he was standing before him apprehensively, the remaining water on his legs slowly evaporating and disappearing from his skin. It became increasingly difficult for Keith to focus on Lance's face and the sheepish expression he was sporting. Unable to keep his hands to himself any longer, Keith took a hold of Lance's thighs and pulled him closer until he clumsily fell onto the couch next to him, where he wasted no time manhandling him until he was lying on his back against one end of the couch.

"Do you have a leg fetish or something?" Lance was trying to come off nonchalant, but Keith could tell he was incredibly nervous and frazzled.

"What if I do?" Hearing the breathless and stunned little noise from Lance, Keith began to smirk. "What will you do if I turn into a pervert with all these fetishes that _you_ triggered? Do you have any idea at all what you're even doing to me? Hm?" The second he saw Lance's eyes darken with lust, Keith leaned down to bite at his ankle like a starved wolf. He didn't break skin, but still bit hard enough it made Lance jump with a startled gasp. He bit a trail up Lance's shin until he reached his thigh, where he finally slowed down and glanced up to see Lance staring down at him with a conflicted expression. He seemed undecided between letting Keith continue and telling him to stop. "I like your legs."

"No shit," Lance immediately spat indignantly, absolutely no bite in his voice; not with Keith robbing him off the ability to remain at all composed.

Proud that he had reduced Lance to a blushing mess with only a few bites, Keith continued on his journey exploring his boyfriend's lithe body. Lance felt pliant and warm below him, responsive to his touches despite them being somewhat uncoordinated and clumsy. Keith delighted in trying various things to coax different noises and reactions out of him. He could fell Lance twitching whenever his lips brushed across a spot above his knee, prompting Keith to focus his attention there. Soon enough, he had Lance squirming and barely holding back moans, his hips beginning to stir. The sounds Keith was making as he bit and sucked at Lance's thighs were filthy, with Lance meanwhile dissolving into a moaning, shuttering mess beneath him. A mantra of "Keith, Keith, Keith," fell from his lips, only interrupted by breathless moans. Against his better judgement, Keith soon began pushing Lance around until he was flat on his back with his legs dangling around Keith's torso. Keith never broke away from his thighs and in his fervour let out noises that made him sound as though _he_ was the one being devoured. In a way, he probably was, what with Lance never ceasing to give him that heady look. Unable to contain himself, Keith bit down on Lance's thigh hard enough to definitely leave a bruise. 

"Fuck, Keith," Lance gasped, breathing beyond ragged. "I can't– Ah!"

When Lance instinctively tried to pull his leg away, Keith simply kept it in place with one hand and placed an apologetic kiss on the already developing bite mark.

"You tryin' to eat me?"

Roused by Lance's oddly husky voice, Keith's gaze wandered up to look at him. What he found were dazed, half-lidded eyes, a flushed face, chest heaving with laboured breaths. An entirely new wave of desire crashed into him, threatening to completely blow any semblance of reason out of his mind. Suppressing a needy groan, Keith began kissing a path up Lance's thighs. Soon enough, he was pushing up Lance's sweatshirt so he could press his lips against the inviting dips and rises of that smooth torso. With each new area that Keith explored, Lance grew louder. Eventually, he gave up trying to hide the noises and was freely letting Keith know how he was making him feel. Strings of curses and heated gasps fell from his lips with each touch. Although Keith seemed calm on the outside, in reality his entire body was sizzling with an increasingly overwhelming electricity. One that only seemed to amplify the need already pooling in his very core. He couldn't get enough of Lance. No matter how much further he travelled up Lance's body, no matter how many kisses he rained on his heated skin, no matter how much desire he poured into every touch, it never seemed like enough. How was he ever supposed to convey this burning need to monopolise Lance fully? To have all of him?

By the time Keith regained his senses, his lips had reached Lance's neck, his hands still under his sweatshirt and sliding across warm, damp skin still wet from the shower. He finally noticed that Lance had at some point begun touching him as well, his hands running along Keith's back and across his naked skin. A guttural moan burst out of him when Lance's fingers brushed over the ridges of his shoulder blades. Keith hated that Lance already knew his weak spots and was able to get reactions like this out of him as if he was merely pressing a button. Their eyes met in that moment and they both froze momentarily, briefly lost in the overwhelming hunger they could see in each other's eyes, before leaning into a kiss that drew desperate moans out of both of them.

Lance was intoxicating. Like an incredibly addictive drug, his every sound and move drew Keith in deeper and deeper, until he found himself unable to ever pull away again. The inside of Lance's mouth was hot and warm, the smouldering gleam in his eyes needy and demanding. Keith could feel him gradually wrapping himself around him, arms around his neck, legs around his hips. He was pulling him in closer and closer, as though he wanted to banish any and all distance between them. Keith almost couldn't keep up.

Suddenly there was friction. Hot, delicious friction. Keith's eyes instantly snapped downwards to find Lance grinding up against him. With Keith in sweatpants and Lance in briefs, this amount of friction was enough to get Keith close to the edge almost instantly; he could feel himself drowning in a daze of pleasure and warmth. Struggling to compose himself, Keith watched with unfocused eyes as Lance's arms fell away from him, instead grabbing on to the couch and the pillow crumpled underneath his head. He was writhing under Keith, little gasps and moans passing his kiss-swollen lips, and it almost drove Keith mad with lust, the overload of sensations nearly frying his brain. "Damnit, Lance," he growled, meeting Lance's grinding hips with his own, his arms almost giving out at the incredible friction of their clothed members sliding against each other. When Lance seemed to similarly fall apart, Keith reached down to softly place a hand against his jaw, fingertips slowly sliding up and into his hair. Then he leaned down to press their lips together, neither quite able to coordinate it in a way that wasn't messy. It was all panting and open-mouthed kisses. "You're driving me crazy."

With a sudden jolt, Lance spasmed and let out his loudest, most unrestrained moan yet, his fingers digging into the couch as his entire body shook. Keith had a front row seat to his boyfriend cumming underneath him and it was probably the most mind-blowing thing he had ever witnessed. Feeling the involuntarily hip thrusts against his straining erection and seeing Lance come so undone finally did Keith in as well, his own orgasm hitting him like a punch in the gut.

It took all off Keith's remaining strength not to collapse on top of Lance. He was shaky as he held himself up on wobbly arms, breaths coming as ragged pants. He felt like he was drifting off into the sky and sinking deeply into the earth at the same time, body stuck between feeling like it was melting and like it was pulsing with energy.

"You need to stop doing that."

Blinking down at Lance, Keith still had trouble processing anything besides how amazing he was feeling. "Stop what?"

Lance tensed up at the question, body curling together a little as though trying to escape. "T-Talking."

Perhaps Keith's brain was truly fried because Lance was making zero sense. "I uh… think that's gonna be difficult." He could almost feel the embarrassment pulsing off of Lance and if he hadn't just dry-humped him, Keith probably would have teased him for it.

"Your voice…"

Even though he trailed off and instantly seemed ten times more flustered as a result, Keith was beginning to get an idea of what was going on. With a teasing smirk he leaned down until their noses almost touched and watched as Lance's eyes widened in fear. He looked like a deer in headlights. "You like my voice?"

In response, Lance involuntarily let out a whine that almost sounded pained. "D-Don't–"

Keith silenced him by leaning in further until his lips barely touched the shell of Lance's reddening ear. Feeling just how stiff Lance went instantly at the light touch, Keith had to fight the temptation to laugh mirthfully. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Lance's skin suddenly felt hotter. "You gonna cum just from hearing my voice?"

A strangled gasp came out of Lance as he stared up at Keith with a mix of lust and anger. "Try me."

The unexpectedly firm answer shot right through Keith's chest, where it bloomed into an all new bout of desire. He couldn't help but smile at the challenge he was presented with. "You asked for it."

* * *

When Lance opened his eyes, his body felt like it was melting into the couch and his brain like it was oozing out of his skull. He probably wouldn't be able to muster up the strength to get up for a while. As the light falling in from outside made the faint shadows on the ceiling softly dance around, Lance listened to the sound of Keith shifting around and mumbling to himself somewhere in the kitchen. Lance didn't even need to know what Keith was up to exactly; simply knowing he was there was soothing. Hearing the quiet rustling of turning pages, Lance felt completely at peace. At least until he shifted slightly and received a sticky reminder of what him and Keith had been doing earlier.

"What…" Still groggy from his nap, Lance looked down at himself and found that he was still wearing his briefs and, more importantly, he found the wet stain that made the fabric stick to his skin uncomfortably. "Ugh…" Annoyed into waking up, Lance sat up with a frown and glared over the back of the couch at Keith, who was sitting at the kitchen counter looking through a thick stack of paper. "You're the worst fucking boyfriend."

Keith didn't even look up from his bundle of pages when he answered. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Noting the too innocent, almost sarcastic tone, Lance sent his most venomous glare at Keith. "You didn't wake me up and now my underwear's a mess."

"Oh no!" Lance wanted to smack Keith for that obviously fake exclamation of shock. When Keith's eyes finally left the papers and shifted to Lance, an evil little smirk began curling his lips. "I guess you'll have to wear some of mine." Before Lance could get angry, Keith pointed at something lying on the counter near him. "Oh, look! There's a clean pair of underwear right here! Aren't you lucky."

Owlishly, Lance stared at what had to be a pair of underwear like it was about to explode. "Those are _bright red_!"

"Yeah, for good luck," Keith returned with deadpan seriousness.

With no other choice but to go along with Keith's dumb games, Lance begrudgingly left the couch, walked up to the counter and with a pointed glare picked up the pair of briefs Keith had laid out for him. "Sneaky bastard." He caught the mischievous quirk of Keith's lips as he left and vowed to somehow get him back for this.

Once he had changed into the red underwear, Lance hesitated to actually go back out to where Keith could see him. He still wasn't wearing pants and he doubted Keith would give them to him even if he asked. And so Lance ended up walking back into the living while pulling down his sweatshirt to cover up the obscenely bright red underwear currently hugging his lower regions. Keith instantly looked up from what he was doing upon his entrance, eyes going to his legs right away and seemingly never leaving again.

"Lemme see," Keith demanded like a child asking to see his Christmas present early.

"No."

"Come on."

"No!" Face hot with embarrassment, Lance quickly made his way to the chair opposite Keith and sat down, glaring at his boyfriend with a small frown.

Meanwhile, Keith maintained the spoiled brat act and looked like someone had taken away his favourite toy. "What do I have to do for you to show me?"

Lance was about to protest and say that _nothing_ would make him show Keith willingly, but then a thought hit him. This was his chance. One thing Lance knew about Keith was that despite his aloof attitude and supposedly 'slow engine,' he was a total horn-dog and easily swayed by desire. So was Lance, but that was besides the point. And so, with newfound determination, Lance stared Keith down as he leaned across the table. "Tell me what Luka was talking about at the club."

Surprised, Keith's eyebrows pulled together into a confused frown, before understanding loosened up his features again. "That's…"

Not getting a flat-out "No" was already a huge success. Having sat next to Keith while he spoke to Luka about something Lance did not understand at all had been disheartening, to say the least. Luka had basically implied that Keith liked threesomes. Ever since then, Lance had desperately tried to banish that conversation to a deep, dark corner of his mind where it would never resurface. Thinking about it opened an entire can of worms that Lance couldn't even begin to deal with on top of everything else. Having confirmation would at least give him some semblance of peace, no matter what the story really was.

"If you do well, I might even let cop a feel," Lance added while Keith was still unsure over what to do. When Keith visibly let the pros and cons run through his mind, Lance shot him a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

"Okay, deal."

 _Wow, that was easy_. Keeping his thoughts to himself, Lance smirked and shot an expectant look at Keith, who proceeded to awkwardly shift around before finally speaking.

"So uh… how do I say this? Um…" He pondered his words for a while, fidgeting nervously with his hands on top of the table the entire time. Eventually, he leaned forward and clapped his hands flat on the table. "I've been in orgies."

There was a silence that almost made it seem as though the universe had stopped moving and time had lost all meaning.

"And I was on drugs for all of them," Keith added nonchalantly. "So I don't really remember much. I might've fucked guys, I don't know. I might've… fucked two at the same time somehow. My memory's really hazy."

Something in Lance's brain had short-circuited. He was hearing Keith say words but they weren't making sense. "Wait…" Slowly, images began being conjured up and soon enough, Lance couldn't get rid of the image of Keith in the midst of a group of attractive models and actors in some exclusive backroom in a club, all writhing in the throes of pleasure. "Wait, why do I think that's hot?! What the fuck?!" Seeing Keith's shocked expression, Lance instantly tried to backtrack. "N-Not the drugs part! Just the… you…!"

Keith watched Lance being flustered for a moment before breaking out into a wolfish grin and signalling him to come close. "Now show me."

Lance would have asked more questions if his brain wasn't too busy imagining his boyfriend in an orgy with people usually only seen in movies and on TV. And so, a little hesitantly, Lance got off his chair and shuffled towards Keith. The moment Lance was close enough, Keith reached down to grab the bottom of his sweatshirt and pull it up almost all the way to his shoulders. Not only was his scarlet-clad crotch on display now, but so was almost his entire torso.

"Hell yeah," Keith cheered quietly, raking his eyes all over Lance's body. His intense gaze burned, the gleam in his eyes satisfied and delighted as he ate up the feast that was his boyfriend's naked body. Soon enough, his attention wandered to the red underwear, his fingers slowly making their way to Lance's hips, the sweatshirt finally dropping back down again. While his fingers splayed over Lance's tight backside, his thumbs began massaging across his hip bones, which coaxed a shaky intake of air out of Lance. 

"Keith, I'm exhausted," Lance began to whine, voice wavering with every press and caress.

Keith simply carried on with his ministrations merrily. "I'm just touching you."

"We both know it's not gonna stop at _just touching_." Even when Lance tried to shoot him a threatening frown, it went by completely unnoticed because Keith was too busy groping his ass. Sighing, Lance placed his hands on Keith's shoulders and hoped he couldn't tell how fast his heart was beating. He couldn't deny that being touched like this was making him feel all sorts of ways. Lance had never had anyone desire him this strongly. It was almost dizzying to realise that Keith wanted him as much as Lance wanted him, that even mundane gestures and words could set him off like this. "What were you doing earlier?" he suddenly questioned.

Keith's hands reluctantly retreated when the sudden change in topic marked the end of this little 'award.' "Just reading a script," he murmured, sounding a little dazed as he stared up at Lance, as though he had just snapped out of some sort of daydream.

"What for?" Unable to resist his urges, Lance cupped Keith's face and began softly squishing it. Seeing Keith so relaxed was a rare occurrence he couldn't let pass by him at any cost. To his surprise, Keith allowed the face squishing, albeit with an annoyed quirk to his lips. 

"It's for a sci-fi mini series," he began explaining. "I like the director, but I don't know if I'd be able to pull this role off. I'm not an experienced actor or anything, you know."

Lance had to fight the need to break out into a dumb, happy grin and giddily dance on the spot. Keith hardly ever talked about work, so him so easily opening up about future projects made Lance feel as though he was finally being let into Keith's world. "Would they have offered the role to you if they didn't think you could handle it?"

"That's the thing, I don't know." A small sigh burst out of Keith when he glanced sideways at what had to be the script still sitting on the counter. "I get offered parts in all kinds of stuff all the time. Usually, they don't want me, just my face. If that makes sense."

"They wanna use you for publicity," Lance elaborated flatly. The face-squishing had by now devolved into downright cheek pinching, which Keith was most likely not going to put up with much longer. "Just pick whatever you like."

"Didn't you list–"

"Does it matter for what reason you're being offered a part?" Lance kept his gaze firm when he met Keith's doubtful one. "You have the freedom to choose, so just pick whatever catches your interest and enjoy it. Even if you got casted just for publicity, you'll still be working on something you like." His next words were a little cheeky and underlined with a little smirk. "You also get a chance to prove that people should think twice before calling you a bad actor."

Finally swatting Lance's hands off once his cheeks were turning red, Keith levelled him with an imploring stare. "You sound like you've seen the stuff I acted in," he said, rubbing at his aching cheeks.

Feeling an embarrassed flush already heating his skin, Lance averted his eyes nervously. "Um… yeah." With a defeated sigh, Lance reluctantly met Keith's inquisitive gaze. "I've watched everything you've ever been in. Multiple times."

"Don't do that," Keith immediately grumbled, his ears turning redder and redder as he spoke. "Most of it isn't that good."

"You're hot, so it's fine." Seeing Keith respond to his matter of fact tone with a small glare, Lance chuckled. "I'm joking. You're not as bad as you think you are. You don't really emote that well, but you usually get casted for roles that fit your way of acting anyway, so it's not a huge problem."

Keith's tense expression only lightened up slightly at the words. He was a perfectionist, the kind of person who wanted to do well in whatever project he took on, even if it wasn't his area of expertise. Not doing well was equivalent to failing. Not being perfect was the same as being worthless. His attitude was the main reason he had successfully branched out to so many fields of entertainment over the years. He had gone beyond a mere pop-star long ago, now a fixture in the entertainment industry despite his incendiary personality. He had as many allies who valued his work ethic in the industry as he had enemies who despised him for not adhering to the rules of how celebrities were supposed to be.

Knowing all this, Lance knew what his own role in Keith's life was: to be his biggest cheerleader, his oasis, the one constant fixture in his life to provide comfort and an escape from being a celebrity. Over time, he had learned to notice Keith's shifting moods, but stopping him from spiralling into negativity was still difficult. Even though Lance had his own problems, he had to be a positive entity for Keith, the one to walk him off cliffs when he grew hopeless over his own high expectations and goals. The previous night had proven that he could go to Keith with his problems if he needed to, but there was still a certain imbalance that was neither of their faults. It was simply the nature of Keith being a celebrity.

"Hey, do a line," Lance demanded, breaking the short silence that had settled between them.

Immediately, Keith's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What? Why?"

"Just do it, come on!"

Keith's expression morphed into an odd mix of anger and embarrassment, eyebrows pulling into a frown while his cheeks reddened. After he grabbed the script from the counter and leafed through the pages, he stopped somewhere in the middle and coughed into his hand. "So… this is from a fight scene," he explained, coughing again as he prepared himself. "Your magic won't work, old witch!" His delivery was a little stiff, to say the least. The ensuing silence seemed to completely shatter his confidence, because he almost instantly slipped out of the role again. "It's really awkward, isn't it? It doesn't fit m–"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lance chuckled. "I could watch you do this all day." Seeing the dry look he received in response, Lance quickly elaborated. "I'm saying you're entertaining. Yeah, you're a little tense, but that's nothing a little practice can't fix. I'm sure you'd do a great job."

Taken aback by the blatant compliment, Keith awkwardly scratched his head as his blush only darkened, which eventually made him hide his face behind his script. "I'm not gonna take on a huge part like this just cause you compliment me."

"That's too bad. Thinking about you doing fight choreography and stuff is getting me all hot and bothered already."

"Stooop," Keith pleaded, lowering the script again to glare at his boyfriend. "There's something else." His fingers began nervously drumming on the script as he avoided Lance's gaze. "There's kiss scenes."

"Oh…" Lance hadn't even considered that possibility. He should have expected it, considering Keith was who he was, but it still came as a shock. "Do you already know who it's gonna be with?"

Half of Keith's face was now hidden by the script as he nodded slowly. "Allura."

Surprise took over Lance's face. "Well, that's a bit awkward…"

"Why?"

Reluctant to answer, Lance shuffled around a little where he stood and fidgeted with his fingers. "I uh… kinda used to have a huge crush on her in middle school?" He watched Keith's reaction and could already tell Keith wasn't liking what was coming out of his mouth. "You know, when she was still starting out and stuff. I think it was when she played that elf girl in the big… uh… fantasy… thing. Now that I think about it, it was a really shitty movie. Looked pretty though."

"Her or the movie?"

"The movie." Lance laughed, delighting a little in the murderous glint in Keith's eyes. Other people would have faltered when met with that kind of gaze, but Lance knew Keith simply showed his distaste on his face very easily. "You jealous?"

"Of course I am." With a dull thud, Keith carelessly threw his script back on the counter and crossed his arms.

"Don't you think I have more reason to be jealous?" By this point, Lance was fully enjoying teasing his boyfriend. "My boyfriend is gonna kiss my teen crush, after all."

"Don't fuck with me," Keith spat. "Knowing you, you'd probably be really into that."

"True."

As annoyed as he was, the anger quickly slipped away and left Keith looking uncertain and worried. "Don't you get jealous at all?"

Finally realising that this wasn't just about Allura anymore, Lance unconsciously began running his fingertips through Keith's messy hair. "Don't look at me like that." The smile that bloomed on his face was a little amused. "Of course I get jealous. I just try not to let it affect me. I've had a relationship go south before because I couldn't trust my girlfriend and made her feel like shit. I don't wanna do that to you."

"Nyma?" When Lance nodded, Keith sheepishly averted his gaze. "That's… sorry. I don't think I can help getting jealous."

"You're fine," Lance immediately reassured him. "Your jealousy is cute. Most of the time." Memories of their first major fight resurfaced in his mind, causing Lance to remember much worse arguments he had had with Nyma while dating her. "Mine's… ugly and dark. It hurts me and everyone around me." His hand in Keith's hair had stopped moving long ago and while pondering his next words, Lance pulled it away and let it fall lifelessly at his side. "I know you don't like me talking about Nyma, but if I hadn't dated her, I don't think I'd be able to date you now. As much as it sucked, I think the mistakes I made back then made it possible for us to end up like this."

Keith seemed speechless for a moment, like he simply didn't know how to respond, before resorting to his usual angry frown. "You're right, I don't like you talking about her."

Chuckling at the childish reaction, Lance leaned down to press a kiss against Keith's lips, which seemed to instantly rob him of any and all anger. Finally relaxing, Keith leaned into the kiss and rewarded Lance with a happy sigh, as if he had been starving for this kind of affection. Once they parted, Keith stared at Lance so intently, it was obvious he had something to say.

"What?" Lance asked him nonchalantly, trying not to come off nervous. It was difficult, what with Keith practically staring into his soul like that.

"I work a lot," Keith eventually said, gaze stoney. Lance simply nodded, not uttering a word, which prompted Keith to continue. "It's… for you."

Stunned, it took Lance a moment to process the words. "What?"

"I just…" Keith instantly stumbled over his words, eyes nervously darting around as he searched for words to say. "I don't… I want you to… I…" Suddenly, he dropped his head almost between his knees and sighed. "I don't want people to mock you for being with me."

The twists and turns of Keith's words were beginning to give Lance whiplash. "Wait… what?"

"You know what people think of me," Keith went on, head still down. "Things might be going well for me right now, but people are just waiting for me to mess up again eventually. And I probably will. I _know_ I will. And when that happens… it's gonna affect you too." With Lance still silent, Keith had no other choice but to ramble on. "I don't want to drag you into my bad press and my horrible image, but…" He trailed off when his voice began to tremble and went silent for a moment to collect himself. "That's why I'm trying so hard to make something out of myself, you know. I want to get to a place where people actually acknowledge me and don't just see me as a walking, talking scandal machine."

"That's gonna be tough cause that's exactly what you are." Lance didn't falter when Keith abruptly raised his head to shoot him an annoyed little glare. "You know what I'm talking about. _Twice_ I've had to stop you from assaulting paparazzi. I've also heard _stories_ from Shiro, dude. Maybe just… don't punch people the second they're rude to you."

"It's not that simple," Keith angrily mumbled under his breath. "Some people just need to be sucker-punched."

"Keith!"

"I know, I know." The hint of a smile that had been on Keith's face soon vanished. "I'm serious though. I'm working this much to make people see me as something other than some talentless hack with nothing but a decent-looking face."

Resolving himself to this conversation probably going on a bit longer, Lance pulled a chair closer and sat down facing Keith. "Does this have anything to do with what my mom and you talked about?"

Keith visibly flinched at the question, eyes going anywhere _but_ Lance. "Maybe…"

Watching Keith nearly _squirm_ under his imploring gaze, Lance for once could read him like a book. With a sigh, he leaned forward until there were mere inches between him and Keith. "Look, I really couldn't care less about what people think. I don't care if they call you a talentless hack and me a gold-digger. I won't let my family interfere either. I don't know what my mom told you, but no matter what, _I'm_ still the one who made the decision to date you."

Keith's gaze mostly stayed on Lance's resolute eyes, but would occasionally flick down to his lips. "I just… what do I do?"

Hearing Keith sound so genuinely helpless and lost, Lance sighed and pushed their foreheads together, mostly to get Keith to look him in the eyes instead of being distracted. "Seeing you once a week would be nice." Instantly, he could see in the way Keith's gaze slid sideways that things weren't that easy.

"I'd love to just free up my schedule and hang out on weekends, but I'm booked for the next couple months. And if I take that part in the mini series, my schedule's gonna be extra packed."

Lance's conversations with Nyma suddenly bubbled up in his mind, causing him to grow more forward than ever before. "Then… can I come visit you at work sometimes?"

Thrown off by the question, Keith seemed to momentarily forget his own dark mood. "I… well… I don't… I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?!" Lance instantly screeched, offended.

Keith seemed hesitant to answer, his usual disgruntled frown returning. "You're loud and distracting. I won't be able to work in peace."

Growing genuinely ticked off, Lance inched closer until his face was nearly close enough for a kiss. The tiniest nudge forward and their lips would meet. "I'll be real quiet."

By this point, Keith looked undecided between kissing Lance or flinging him out of a window. "You'd still be distracting."

Annoyed, Lance pulled back a little, only to knock his forehead against Keith's with a quiet, dull thud. "Dude, the fuck's wrong with you? I won't show up in booty shorts with my tits out. Film shoots are mostly waiting anyway, right? I'll just hang out."

"Don't."

"Come on!" The drier Keith's tone got, the more heated Lance's grew. "If you don't say 'yes' I'll actually come over in booty shorts with my huge, distracting tits out!"

"You don't _have_ tits!"

"Then I'll get some!"

With a frustrated grumble, Keith buried his head in his hands, angrily ruffling his hair. "You're distracting because you're… _you_." The stunned silence didn't last long, Keith daring to peek up at a now flustered Lance. "You could show up in a potato sack and I'd still be distracted." 

Naturally, Lance's usual bravado returned soon enough. "I know I'm irresistible and all, but don't you have any self-restraint?"

"I really don't."

"I've noticed." Sometimes Lance wondered how Keith got through life being that impulsive and driven by emotion. Him being a musician _and_ in the entertainment industry seemed like an impossibility, given his personality, yet here he was. "Let's watch another movie," he suddenly suggested, once he noticed Keith already devising new ways to make some kind of move on him. By now he figured Keith was aware of how quick Lance was to get turned on and was planning on fully exploiting that. As much as Lance enjoyed catching up on all the times they couldn't be together, he did need some kind of cool-down period; a concept that seemed entirely foreign to Keith. "Go find a movie. I'll wait in the living room."

Keith meanwhile was left sulking as he watched Lance stand up and leave. He didn't consider himself conceited or too arrogant, but after years of having young girls and women screaming his name and sometimes even fainting at the sight of him, it was a bit of a surprise to be rejected so bluntly. And so easily too. He could tell Lance wasn't entirely unaffected by his advances, but apparently his iron-clad self-restraint was something Keith could only hope to one day achieve. With a small sigh, he left the kitchen and headed towards his bedroom in search of a DVD to watch. Perhaps if he played his cards right, he could get Lance to make a move of his own accord. Keith wasn't the patient type, but perhaps waiting was all he needed to do for Lance to crack.

* * *

A few months into his public relationship with a worldwide celebrity and Lance had gotten somewhat used to strangers taking "secret" snapshots of him. Aquarium security couldn't always be around to stop guests from hounding Lance or hiding in dark corners to record him without his knowledge. The whole world knew where he worked, so even though things had calmed down enough he could work with guests again, people coming up to him to chat him up and take photos was by now a daily occurrence.

Even though he didn't maintain any kind of social media, Keith's occasional selfies with Lance and general interest from the media had made him somewhat of a celebrity of his own right. With how frequently his name was in the news in association with Keith, people were beginning to remember him as "Lance" and not just "Keith's boyfriend". Usually, celebrities dating non-celebrities rarely made huge waves. Non-celebrity partners in these relationships were often able to maintain a regular lifestyle. Safe for the occasional paparazzo shot in a gossip magazine, they rarely even appeared in the media, preferring to keep a low profile over being in the spotlight. Lance, on the other hand, was not only in a relationship with arguably one of the most globally recognisable celebrities in existence – meaning _anyone_ Keith dated instantly became a topic of widespread media discussion – but Lance was also a _guy_. Not only that, he additionally used to be a very vocal hater of Keith, having spent much of his time writing stupidly incendiary articles about him out of his own sense of inadequacy and inferiority. All of these factors combined to create a whirlwind of things that made him stand out from the usual non-celebrity dating a celebrity. He had somehow managed to "turn Keith gay," despite so openly expressing his dislike for him for years prior. Even now, months after going public with the relationship, Lance still occasionally stumbled over articles questioning its legitimacy. An entire slew of conspiracy theories had gradually made their way into the public conscience, some accusing Keith of using the LGBTQ+ community for fame and to distract from his wrongdoings, others claiming Lance was somehow blackmailing him for his own gain. Keith being the controversial person he was, all kinds of accusations were being thrown at him. Lance, likewise, had made quite a few enemies with his old articles. In essence, fans of Keith hated Lance and Keith haters hated Keith even more than before. Sometimes it felt as though hardly anyone approved of their relationship.

As Lance finished another successful tour for a class of middle school kids, he noticed a young couple taking photos of him from afar, near the manta ray tank. At some point, he had stopped being startled or upset every time it happened. His face was already plastered all over the media, so there wasn't much of a point in trying to hide. Unfortunately, every now and then people didn't seem to understand boundaries, complaining when he refused selfies as though he was somehow obligated to take time off his work to pose with strangers. Some people went as far as blatantly hitting on him and each time Lance wasn't entirely sure if they wanted to get to Keith through him, if they wanted to create some sort of scandal, or if they wanted him as some sort of trophy; have the guy that had seduced Keith, so to say. Whatever the reason, Lance never felt as though these people would have ever approached him if not for Keith. It was only a glimpse into what Keith experienced on a regular basis but it was more than enough for Lance to sympathise with him.

A sudden flash in the dark told Lance that most likely someone had just taken another photo of him. When his eyes inadvertently glanced in the direction of the flash, he found someone standing in the shadow of a staircase. Usually, when Lance caught people in the act, they instantly gave themselves away. Nervously hiding their phones, fidgeting, or awkwardly turning their heads away to pretend they hadn't been staring at him, they always made it painfully obvious that they knew they had been doing something wrong or at least a little rude. But this person continued staring in his direction to the point Lance had to wonder if it really had been this person taking photos. But with the lull in guests that came with the early noon hours, there wasn't anyone else nearby. More than a little creeped out, Lance averted his gaze and tried to go about work as usual without thinking about the creepy figure in the darkness.

Soon after, Lance began another tour, after which he was sent to the back to help the new intern get used to food prep. The entire rest of the day he didn't see the person that had taken those photos. Despite the incident itself being not too different from any other time people took sneaky shots of him, something about that person stuck with Lance. This person's unwavering stare hidden in darkness had seeped into Lance's mind like mud staining a pristine layer of snow. The mysterious snapshot taker had neither given off the feeling of a journalist, nor that of an everyday person simply out to get a photo of someone they had seen on the news. Then what was this person?

The only thing able to get Lance's mind off his own tumultuous thoughts was walking by the manatee tank on his way to the break room. It had been a few weeks since a vet had put Livia down and yet Lance still could still see ghost images of her swimming up towards him whenever he passed by. It had been such a regular part of his daily life at work, it was difficult to adjust to her not being there anymore. Like a phantom she would appear in his mind's eye, doing her usual snorts and splashes to get his attention. Her death had been devastating to everyone, but considering her special relationship with Lance, it was understandable why his colleagues were still being so mindful around him. No one ever brought up her name in his presence and he was almost certain that the first week after Livia's death, his supervisor had done everything in her power to keep him far away from the manatee tanks. He appreciated how considerate everyone was being, but sometimes it felt as though Livia's existence was being erased for his sake and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. He still hadn't told Keith how he felt about the entire thing and he wasn't sure if he ever would. He had already unloaded all his hurt on Hunk and Pidge, so doing the same to Keith seemed unnecessary.

Lance reached the break room with a long sigh slipping out of him. Walking past Livia's tank always reminded him how unequipped he was to deal with his own grief. Most of the deaths in his family had happened when he had been far too young to feel grief. Even when he had gotten older, aside from very distance relatives, no one close to him had ever passed away suddenly. All he knew to do was wonder whether this rift in his chest would ever disappear.

His phone buzzing in his pocket finally interrupted Lance's depressing train of thought and made him drop the sandwich he had been about to eat. A smile instantly took over his face when he found a message from Keith that was essentially a long tirade about how it was Lance's fault that recently every interview he did included questions about his love for husky puppies. Even his fans were now sending him husky plushies and dog toys as gifts. By now, Keith adoring husky puppies had simply become part of who he was to the public. Chuckling to himself, Lance replied to the message saying that Keith should thank him for cleaning his image up at least a little. His phone pinged with the arrival of another message almost right away, but Lance's smile fell a little when he realised it was an email and not a reply from Keith. Confused at the unknown sender, he opened the email with the odd subject of "Today." What he found in the email at first didn't make much sense. It was a badly taken photo, a mix of blues and violets outlined by blocks of dark colour. In the middle something like a shadow. Or perhaps a person. Suddenly, Lance recognised the human-like shape.

It was a photo of himself, specifically of him standing in front of the clown fish tank. Right away, he knew this photo had to have been taken from below that dark staircase, the one that strange person had been standing under.

What made him shudder was the fact that this email address shouldn't have been publicly available. It was Lance's private address, one he only used with family and close friends and maybe a few people he worked closely with. His first thought was that whoever had sent this was someone he knew that was simply messing with him. Perhaps an early Halloween prank, something he would surely find funny later on. But the unsettled thumping of his own heart and the tremble in his fingers was something he couldn't dismiss. It almost seemed as though his body already knew what his mind was still denying. As he scrolled down the email, he hoped to find a cheeky line from one of his friends about succeeding in scaring the shit out of him. What he found instead almost made him drop his phone.

 _"It's rude to ignore people, Lance. Come over and have a chat with me next time."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might've been a boring chapter, I dunno. I had some of these conversations scripted for a long time, so I was really just building around those. Hopefully it wasn't too bland mostly reading about Lance and Keith being sorta domestic. Also points to anyone who knows where Keith's line in the movie script is from. 
> 
> On a more serious note, and I don't know how to best say this, but I'm conflicted whether to end the story here, with this chapter as an epilogue, or to keep uploading the chapters I have drafted. I had so many ideas for this sequel (too many, to be honest) and from here on there isn't much of a story. There's the whole stalker thing, but overall most chapters are just Lance and Keith being a couple and having their ups and downs. There was a whole other angle I was going to take with this story, but I couldn't find a good way of writing it without turning this whole story into this elaborate drama/action type thing.
> 
> Truthfully, I haven't really actively worked on this story in weeks. I've moved on to a different fandom and have been writing something for that. I was close to writing the ending for this story, I just haven't found the motivation to actually do so since I started writing something new. I'm just not sure if it's worth uploading the other half of this story. Although I currently have four more chapters drafted, each chapter still needs a lot of work until it's finished and ready to upload. I already know most people will urge me to upload the remaining chapters, I just don't know if the quality of the chapters warrants putting in that additional work to get all the chapters ready to upload. I guess I just want to know if people still want to read the rest of the story even if it's not that well thought out in terms of plot. If I do decide to end the story here, I'll take out the stalker bit at the end and leave the chapter like that. Would be cruel to leave people hanging on a cliffhanger like that.
> 
> Would appreciate any opinions on this!


	8. III – VI – II – V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you can see, I've decided to continue this story! I got a lot of encouraging comments that were surprisingly long and detailed. I wasn't expecting mini essays about things people like about this story, so that was super motivating. A lot of you guys told me about things you still want to see happen in the story, stuff that I've actually already drafted in upcoming chapters! It felt like a waste to just not upload those chapters when there are people who want to read them. Also considering the time I spent writing them, it just felt wrong to let them waste away on my hard drive. There are so many stories I've written that never saw the light of day because I didn't know how to end them and didn't want to leave people hanging. To me that's honestly one of the worst things a writer could do, so that's probably the main reason I'll continue working on this story, even if my enthusiasm for it has waned somewhat.
> 
> That being said, this chapter barely has any plot. It's mainly just gratuitous smut. Hope you enjoy!

Lance should have known looking at social media for longer than strictly necessary could only turn out badly for him. Keith had warned him. He had told him about all the vile and hateful things people spewed online, how, when it was directed at yourself, it was almost impossible to simply ignore. Unless one got used to it, like Keith had to. What Keith _hadn't_ warned Lance about was the extreme at the opposite end of the spectrum: the people who were way too invested in Keith and anything to do with his personal life. Namely what he did in the bedroom.

Hoping he didn't look too flustered as he sat practically hunched over his phone on the bus, Lance scrolled through a slew of posts all heatedly discussing who topped and bottomed between him and Keith. It was no surprise people couldn't find a clear answer, seeing how Lance and Keith didn't care either way. As he scrolled further, he soon came across posts that mostly expressed very open lust for Keith, but sometimes mentioned Lance as well. To Lance it was still flattering yet bewildering to have strangers online so blatantly expressing their desire for him. Yes, some of it was so ridiculous and over the top, it had to have been posted simply for attention. But some of these things sounded so oddly specific, they couldn't possibly be made up just for likes. Lance was sinking deeper and deeper into a most depraved part of Keith's fandom, with no easy way back out. Reading through those kinds of posts, Lance couldn't help but picture Keith. The fictional Keith that existed in the minds of people online was confident, mysterious, and seductive enough to entice people of any gender. Although it vaguely seemed like Keith, this perception of him completely left out how clumsy and insecure he was sometimes, how he was the exact opposite of composed. There was a certain enigmatic air about him when first meeting him, but that impression quickly dissipated once Keith opened his mouth.

Even knowing that, Lance grew more and more intrigued with this fantasy Keith who apparently walked around constantly exuding sex and power with even the smallest gesture or shift in expression. Reading other people's fantasies about Keith made him unwittingly fantasise those same things. Some posts were quite graphic, yet somehow the less graphic ones, the ones that left some room for imagination, were the ones that made something flare up deep in Lance's gut. Even skipping over posts when they got too race-y didn't help in calming his imagination.

_"Have you guys seen Keith's tongue??? I bet he–"_

_"I want him to smack my ass and crush my head between those thighs."_

_"Keith could absolutely rip me to shreds with that massive di–"_

By the time Lance noticed the gradually building tension coursing through his entire body, it was already too late.

A shrill ding sounded and a robotic voice announced the arrival at Lance's destination. Startled out of intently staring down at his phone, Lance stumbled upright and made his way out of the bus hoping no one had noticed his slightly laboured breathing. Luckily, his underwear and pants were tight enough to hide his growing hard-on. He tried willing it into going down, but walking only made it worse. Getting turned on over silly posts expressing thirst over his celebrity boyfriend was _not_ how he had planned for this day to go.

After texting back and forth with Shiro over the past few weeks, they had finally managed to sort out a day when Lance could pay Keith a surprise visit at work. Lance hadn't expected Shiro to be okay with something like that, him being such a strait-laced guy, but he had been surprisingly open to the idea. Throughout their text conversations, Lance had gotten the feeling Shiro truly did harbour some kind of need to get back at Keith for all the shit he made his manager put up with over the years. Shiro wasn't malicious though, so catching Keith off guard by inviting his boyfriend was his idea of revenge.

Lance was _supposed_ to just show up, be casual, surprise Keith for a bit, maybe watch him work for a while, before eventually leaving again. Nothing too extravagant. And yet, when Lance arrived in the parking lot Shiro had called him to, he was met with a wall of eager Keith fans, which instantly crushed any plans to show up without much fuss. Shiro had warned him that certain fans somehow always managed to find out where Keith was and would follow him around relentlessly. Seeing them now, in the flesh, Lance suddenly felt nervous. These weren't the typical screaming middle schoolers who had to take their parents along just to get into concerts. These were girls around Lance's age or older, people with the resources to invest their time and money into a celebrity in such a way. It was disconcerting, to say the least. They looked so normal, so calm as they chatted amongst each other. It was difficult to believe they were legitimate stalker fans.

All Lance knew for sure was that Keith was recording for some sort of game ad. The location of the shoot used to be an old airport, with the hangars now used for various productions; one apparently even housed an animation studio. As Lance continued surveying his surroundings, one of the hangar doors opened and out stepped Keith accompanied by Shiro and what had to be a bodyguard. His expression warmed up a little as he approached his fans, but Lance could tell his expression was strained. The smile Keith managed to muster up was a little tense, his gait stiff as he walked. Despite his evident discomfort, Keith openly greeted his fans with a smile and accepted the letters and gifts they handed him. He spoke to them casually as he signed various albums and cards, never letting any discomfort show on his face. This was one instance where his supposedly robot-like face came in handy. Looking at him closer, it was evident he had been in the middle of filming something. His face was covered in dark smudges that made him look like he had just taken a walk through a burned down ruin. A fake scar ran up from his jaw almost all the way to his eye, giving him a rugged look, almost like he had been in a battle for his life. To say Lance didn't find it hot would be a complete and utter lie.

Suddenly, one of the fans noticed Lance standing there listlessly, watching the entire thing. Her eyes instantly widened and soon enough, the entire group turned to look at Lance. Including Keith. His eyes grew so wide, his eyeballs looked ready to plop out. And before Keith could even react, the fans broke out into excited coos and squeals seeing the unusually unguarded and flustered expression on his face. While Keith was occupied, Shiro made his way over and greeted Lance with a friendly grin.

"You made it," he whispered to Lance once he was close enough they could speak without anyone else hearing. "Keith looks shocked."

Grinning mischievously along with Shiro, Lance watched as Keith struggled to keep his attention on his fans without constantly looking at his boyfriend. Occasionally, his fans would throw sideways glances at Lance. Some of them came off a little hostile in their leering, while others seemed like they were revelling in seeing Keith so flustered, even teasing him over it. Unfortunately, even being met with such obvious distaste didn't help in calming the problem still growing in Lance's pants.

"He's really expressive when you're around," Shiro suddenly commented, fondness in his voice. "I was starting to get worried that he's way too jaded and cynical for his age, but you've definitely softened up some of his edges."

In response, Lance could only smile awkwardly; both because seeing Keith in the flesh was turning him on more than he had thought and because he still wasn't used to Shiro praising him like this. For a quite a while Lance had known that Shiro was somehow incredibly grateful to him, but what for exactly he didn't know. All he really knew for certain was that back when he had started hanging out with Keith, somehow he had been going through a rough time. Not that Lance had noticed; Shiro and Keith had both merely implied it occasionally, leaving Lance to simply wonder about the details. With Keith being who he was, there was not _the one_ scandal or headline that could have caused him grief. There were too many notable ones to really pinpoint which one exactly could have caused him so much distress. Then again, Keith used to not care too much about the media's perception of him, so perhaps it was something completely unrelated.

Watching the exhaustion on Keith's face increase as he snapped selfie after selfie and was forced to deal with an entire group of way too obsessive fans somehow only made things worse for Lance. Seeing Keith doing _anything_ at all would probably set Lance off at this point. "Why are you letting this happen?" he eventually murmured, hoping his arousal wasn't audible in his voice.

Shiro sighed, his head lowering a little. "We can't really say no. These sort of fans invest a _lot_ of money in Keith, so the label doesn't want to cut them off. And between you and me, I'm pretty sure the person constantly leaking Keith's schedule to these stalkers is someone in the label. It's shitty for Keith, but it's part of what makes him profitable."

As much as Lance wanted to be angry at Shiro for not stepping in, he could hear in his tone how defeated he was. Evidently, he _had_ fought with higher-ups over this exact thing and lost in the end. Knowing Keith had signed with a new label not too long ago, Lance had to wonder just what his old label was like for something like this to be considered more desirable.

Keith's salvation came in the form of a crew member telling Keith to get back inside to continue shooting. That caused a collective outburst of disappointed groans from the group of fans. Mustering up an apologetic smile, Keith quickly drew away and practically escaped into the nearest hangar, where crew members were still setting up cameras, lights, and whatever else was needed to shoot an ad. Along the way, he threw nervous glances towards Lance.

"Let's go," Shiro simply said, before walking off towards the hangar.

Lance noticed the side-eye he was getting from the group of fans, but firmly ignored them. Anything he did to respond would only end up on social media and potentially cause drama. He wanted to prove to Keith that it was okay for him to show up at his work sometimes. If he messed this up now, then Keith would only pull away even further. He had to be careful.

The moment Lance stepped into the hangar, he forgot he was in a former airport. Various room-like sets stood along the far away walls, huge light panels hung from several of the pitch-black walls, and a complicated system of scaffolding, lights and other technology was set up below an equally black ceiling. Parts of the black floor were covered in pieces of colourful tape, thousands of shoe prints across the smooth surface making it look grey. Together with Shiro, Lance weaved through the corridors between machinery and plywood walls, until he arrived at what had to be the set Keith's ad was being shot in. Looking at it was nearly dizzying. There were enough lights to blind anyone that stood at their centre, enough technology on all sides to make the set vaguely look like a spaceship. All kinds of tools and supplies were scattered across the floor and it seemed as though not a second passed where someone _wasn't_ rushing around nearby.

"Keith's gonna get into costume while they set up the next shot," Shiro explained when he noticed the slightly lost look on Lance's face. "You should probably wait with me here. Keith tends to nap when he gets FX makeup done." As Shiro continued talking, it gradually seemed as though he was talking more to himself. "Blocking is done. But there's still three scenes left. We got here late cause of traffic, so everything's kinda rushed. We'll probably be here a while till everything wraps. You sure you don't have anything else to do today?"

Woken from his distracted daze once he was directly spoken to, Lance slowly nodded. "Yeah… it's fine. I told my roommate not to wait for me." When Shiro simply nodded, Lance tried going back to absent-mindedly observing the hectic chaos happening around him, but couldn't get his mind off of Keith. His arousal had luckily calmed down quite a lot, but the simmering heat coiling in his gut had not subsided even one bit. Rather, it seemed to only grow hotter and almost painful the longer he ignored it. Occasionally, Shiro would engage him in small talk long enough to distract him for a while, but the moment silence fell over them, desire reared its red-hot head once again and reminded Lance that the object of his affection and obsession was nearby. Desperate as he was, Lance's mind was beginning to conjure up phantasies in which he snuck into Keith's dressing room and waited for a chance to pounce on him. The social media posts centred around what exactly Keith was packing under those sinfully tight pants came back to him, haunting him, echoing in his mind until it became virtually impossible _not_ to picture how Keith looked naked. Lance had seen flashes here and there, had even felt the heat Keith's cock in his hand. But all of a sudden, all of that was not enough.

When a painfully long hour was finally over and Lance's eyes were growing heavy, Keith finally returned to the set accompanied by two women; most likely there to touch up his makeup and hair whenever needed. Lance's throat went dry the second he laid eyes on Keith. He had heard this was a shoot for a video game ad, but he had never imagined what that actually entailed. Keith was dressed in a weathered black tank top and matching pants and boots. Layered on top were various belts and armour pieces, too many for him to look like a person you would find in real life. The belts around his torso especially looked more like a harness than anything, serving no purpose other than to accentuate the dips and curves of his firm muscles. His usual mess of a hairdo was styled into a much sleeker, more organised mess; it made him look like he had rolled out of bed after a steamy night, hair still magically intact. An oversized scarlet scarf was wrapped around his neck and doubled as a cape of sorts, long enough to stretch all the way across his back and down to his knees. The large armour piece on his left shoulder gleamed in the bright studio lights, drawing even more attention to his bare arms. The fingerless gloves on his hands nearly reached up all the way to his elbows, guiding Lance's eyes even more towards his arms. Additionally, the fake tattoos on his upper arms made it obvious what the main focus of this costume was.

"What do you think?"

Shiro's voice reached Lance's ears as though through a thick fog, having to penetrate a wall of horny white noise before getting to his brain. "Hum– what?" _Does he know?_ , Lance wondered, suddenly coming to the horrifying realisation that the mere sight of Keith had reawakened his earlier problem almost instantly.

"Keith's been working out for the past two weeks in preparation for this shoot," Shiro explained, a knowing glint to his eyes. How much he had noticed was a mystery locked behind his dark eyes. "He's bulked up a little since the last time you saw him."

With horror Lance realised in that very moment how Shiro was able to control Keith at all. The guy was terrifying. One look in those deceptively gentle and kind eyes and Lance knew why Keith didn't even dare eat a not-diet-friendly granola bar where Shiro could see him. When Shiro's smile only widened, Lance opted to stay silent and watched as Keith headed towards his mark on the floor.

The shoot went by quite smoothly. Clearly, Keith had done this kind of thing often enough to be able to get through his lines smoothly and efficiently. The director only rarely gave him any pointers and seemed satisfied with his performance. Overall, Lance found himself impressed seeing his boyfriend being so professional. All of a sudden, he understood all the praise Keith received for his work ethic. He didn't let anything distract him, never complained, and even made suggestions of his own; despite being very obviously affected by Lance showing up during his break, he was now fully immersed in his work. It made Lance wonder whether Keith had forgotten he was even there.

It would be reasonable to assume that with the amount Lance was sitting around simply waiting and watching, his desperate erection would eventually give up and calm down. But to his great misfortune, Keith's stupidly toned arms were doing things to him he had never thought possible. At one point there was a scene where Keith was supposed to look like he was glistening with sweat and someone was constantly spritzing him with water to keep him wet. Lance had to suppress a frustrated scream at the sight, his nails biting into the arms of his chair. The countless lights pointed at Keith were perfectly arranged to accentuate his fit body, casting dramatic shadows that only made his body look that much more chiseled. Keith wasn't even that ripped, but these lights were making him look like some sort of Adonis and Lance was beginning to die a little inside.

When there was a lull in tension during a set up change and while Lance was still in a daze as he stared at his boyfriend, suddenly, bright amethyst eyes met his. Until that very moment where their eyes locked, Lance hadn't even noticed that Keith was wearing purple contacts. Those eyes burned into his with a look that was so nonchalant, Keith may as well have been looking at a wall. Then, slowly, a certain softness entered Keith's gaze and he smiled. It was nothing but a small quirk of his lips, nearly indiscernible to anyone that wasn't watching his every move, but it was enough to completely fry something in Lance's brain once and for all. He could almost hear the sound of something in his mind snapping. Whether it was his restraint or his sanity he didn't know.

Someone, probably the director, announced a break. Right away, Keith headed for where Lance was sitting with Shiro, expression exhausted but with a happy twinkle in his purple eyes.

"Why're _you_ here?" he spat, the happy gleam in his eyes didn't match his nasty tone. "Is this your doing, Shiro?"

"Sure is." The manager grinned, that all-knowing gaze briefly sliding to Lance. "You had fun watching, huh, Lance?" He received no answer other than a glare that was both pained and annoyed, which seemed to finally make him take pity on Lance. "Keith, why don't you show Lance around a little? I'm sure he's curious."

"You sure?" Keith immediately questioned, looking down at himself in his multi-layered rogue costume. "Usually you tell me not to move around in costume so I won't mess up hours of work."

Upon getting an urgent side-eye from Lance, Shiro waved his hand dismissively. "Just go before I change my mind."

"Fine." With a shrug, Keith took a hold of Lance's hand and pulled him out of his chair. "I have about an hour. What do you wanna see?"

Lance couldn't even speak. Too clouded was his mind to even process anything he was hearing, let alone give Keith a response. All he could do was let Keith pull him along and hope his hand wasn't too hot and sweaty from all the excitement rushing through his body.

"Lance?" Keith asked when he received no answer, turning to look back at his boyfriend, who was following him listlessly. His expression grew puzzled when there still was no response. "You okay? Do you… I dunno… need water or something?"

Even this simple contact between their hands was driving Lance crazy. He wanted to pull his hand away and make run for it before Keith could notice just how stupid turned on he was. At the same time, the firm grasp of Keith's rough fingers around his hand was the only thing grounding him and keeping him from completely dissolving into a puddle of frustrated arousal. Suddenly, the social media posts Lance had sifted through earlier came back to him, only fuelling the chaos that was the dumpster fire in his mind. "Water," he finally managed to answer, vivid descriptions of Keith's body by his fans echoing in his head.

"Sure," Keith murmured suspiciously after a small pause. In his eyes, Lance behaving strangely wasn't completely out of the norm. As carefree and put together as he seemed, in reality Lance was the type to latch onto things and completely overthink them. But even for Lance's standards this was very odd behaviour. Ignoring both bemused looks from staff members and the weirdly pointed looks from a few people as he continued holding hands with Lance and guided him away, Keith soon strolled into a corridor that was lined by various doors. "These are offices," he simply explained, knowing he probably wouldn't get a response from Lance. "Let's go in." Without even giving Lance the chance to protest, he threw open one of the doors and dragged his boyfriend inside, throwing the door shut again behind him. "Okay, what's up?" he instantly began interrogating Lance. "You're not mad at me, right? I haven't…" Trailing off, Keith finally noticed something peculiar now that Lance was standing in front of him backed into a wall. "Why aren't you looking at me?" To confirm his words, Keith shifted around in front of Lance to somehow make eye contact, but no matter how much he shoved his face near his, Lance seemed determined to look anywhere _but_ him. "Are you mad after all? I don't think I've–"

"It's not that," Lance instantly protested in a strangely shrill voice. His voice tended to go up a few octaves when he was nervous, which only served to make him painfully easy to read in moments like this. "I just um… I… you…"

"Me?" Unconsciously, Keith leaned closer, close enough he could smell the clean and flowery scent of Lance's detergent. The strangled and panicked noise that came from Lance finally gave him an inkling of why he was so obviously avoiding him. Immediately, a mischievous smirk spread on Keith's lips. "You into costumes or something?"

Lance tried to answer, but seemed to think of it otherwise because instead he simply shook his head.

Deciding that teasing Lance was probably his favourite pastime, Keith leaned in even closer. From this distance he could see Lance's impossibly blue eyes and the panic pooling deep within them. He could feel the heat radiating off of Lance's skin, could hear his slightly raspy breathing. "What has you this hot and bothered, huh?" He watched with almost predatory intent as Lance nervously bit his lip, eyes occasionally flicking up to meet his eyes, only to drop away against almost instantly. Enjoying the view of an incredibly flustered Lance, Keith suddenly slammed his hands against the wall next to Lance's head, effectively pinning him against the wall. "Look at me."

"Shit," Lance choked out, sliding down against the wall a few inches when his legs seemed to give out a little.

A look of astonishment took over Keith's face when he watched the way Lance was suddenly clawing at the hem of his jacket. "Did you just get hard?"

Instead of getting embarrassed, Lance instantly looked pissed. "I can't help it!" he snapped angrily. "I've been horny all day and then I come here and you look like this and I… I…"

At first taken aback by Lance's outburst, Keith relished in seeing his anger simmer down quickly, words trailing off. It would be a lie to say he wasn't at all turned on. Lance was so incredibly responsive to his every word and move, it was impossible not to be completely enraptured by his reactions. He could already feel the heat of desire rolling around in his gut, licking at his restraint. He expected Lance to cave soon and lean into a kiss, his long arms engulfing Keith in an embrace. What Keith didn't expect at all was for Lance to suddenly drop to his knees in front of him. "L-Lance, wha–" Keith's words were cut short when hands descended on his thighs and pulled him in, Lance already mouthing at his clothed dick like a starved animal finally sinking sharp fangs into its long-awaited prey. With his eyes completely glazed over with lust, Lance almost looked intoxicated. "What–" Again, Keith never got the chance to say anything.

As Lance began to get into his pants, Keith instinctively buried a hand in his hair, eliciting a guttural moan from Lance that shook Keith to his core. Despite Lance being the one with his back to a wall, despite him being on his knees, fully vulnerable in front of Keith, this felt like being trapped by a predator, all escape routes gone. Keith felt like he should be panicking, should by all means try to run away, but instead he remained completely rooted in place. His hips were already moving of their own accord, shallowly grinding along with the trail of heat Lance's bewitching mouth was leaving across his front. Keith felt at a loss with their roles suddenly reversed; him being the one that was getting teased now instead of Lance.

Slowly, much too slowly, Lance gradually made his way across his front, lips trailing over Keith's bulge with almost feather-light touches. His hands tirelessly stroked Keith's thighs, occasionally sliding upwards to run over his almost painfully tense abdomen. The sound of a zipper being pulled down was jarringly loud in the otherwise quiet office. It only heightened Keith's senses further, making him abruptly aware of the way Lance's breath hitched when Keith's hand tightened in his hair. Keith flinched when Lance's fingers began running over the waistband of his briefs, clearly indicating his intentions. Gulping, Keith stared down at his boyfriend with desperation in his eyes. Lance seemed to notice the intense gaze and finally, for the first time since entering the room, he looked up and met Keith's eyes directly without shying away. Having Lance glance up at him like that with his lips only inches from his dick instantly made all the blood in Keith's body rush downwards, making him grow noticeably harder. The eye contact was electrifying, to say the least. 

Lance began kissing the skin right above the waistband of his briefs, sometimes lightly biting and sucking, quickly driving Keith mad with anticipation. His next words, said with a dazed and already slightly out of breath voice, nearly made something in Keith's brain short out. "I wanna suck you off. I've wanted you in my mouth since the moment I saw you in this get-up." By this point Lance was leaning into him heavily, breath hot on his exposed skin as his hands held on to Keith's pants like he was about to be swept away by a sudden tidal wave. "Please…"

"Do it," Keith gasped out, voice wrecked before Lance had even touched him directly. "Fuck, Lance…"

Not one to be told twice, Lance wasted no time finally pulling down Keith's briefs. When he was instantly greeted with a rock-hard cock jumping out at him, he flinched back at first, but soon leaned in again with newfound curiosity. Despite his initial hesitation, he quickly grew bold enough to carefully run a finger across the underside of Keith's dick, instantly making Keith shudder as sparks of electricity raced up and down his spine. Having squeezed his eyes shut at the overwhelming sensation, Keith heard rather than saw Lance spit into his hand, before taking hold of his dick and stroking him in a way that had to be intentional torture. Being a guy himself, Lance knew how to handle a dick. He had to know that slowly stroking Keith like this – not too hard, not too light, twisting gently over his head and along his length, alternating the pressure just right – would all lead to this whole ordeal ending far too soon. But then the hand left and was replaced by silky, warm heaven. Keith's eyes instantly flew open and he was greeted by hazy blue eyes staring back at him with a look that made it clear Lance was going to make him lose it.

As Lance began sucking at Keith's head, he seemed to slip further into a lust-driven haze. He looked as though blowing Keith was providing some kind of comfort he couldn't get anywhere else; like he had been waiting weeks, months, years to have Keith in his mouth at last. Soon, Lance was working the tip with his tongue like he was french-kissing it. Seeing that, Keith could feel himself growing bigger and harder inside Lance's mouth. Lance's tongue was long and soft as it wrapped itself around him, dragging a choked moan out of Keith as a warm flush radiated through his skin. Every now and then, Lance would glance up to watch his reaction and each time made Keith dizzy with need. Before he realised it, Lance was taking in half of his length with ease, tongue flat against the underside of his dick and massaging it with a look in his eyes that made it undeniable how much he enjoyed driving Keith to the brink. He used his hands to take care of whichever parts he couldn't reach with his mouth. With his dick being worked so deliciously and thoroughly, Keith was letting out moans and grunts loud enough anyone walking by outside would easily hear.

Just as he vowed to control his volume, Keith watched as Lance slowly worked his dick down his throat, the painfully slow pace downright torturous. Suddenly, Keith could feel Lance's throat muscles contracting around his head, making a surprised moan tear out of him. Along with the tongue massaging him, Keith was beginning to feel as though he was about to burst wide open right then and there. Seeing Lance taking him to the back of his throat, tongue massaging the bottom of his dick, Keith could feel himself rapidly nearing his peak. He felt close to climaxing, yet somehow Lance was keeping him just short of blowing his load. Whether intentionally or not, Lance was edging him. Frustrated, in a moment of dazed absent-mindedness, Keith involuntarily thrust into Lance's mouth, which made him gag and pull off his dick instantly. The messy, wet sound as Keith's dick slipped out of his mouth was obscene, saliva and pre-cum flying out of his mouth as he coughed.

"S-Sorry," Keith apologised frantically, the hand he still kept in Lance's hair soothingly stroking his head. 

The moment he stopped coughing, Lance glanced up at Keith with a face still covered in filth and eyes that almost seemed enchanted by lust. "Good?"

The breathy tone and slightly hoarse voice almost made Keith blow right then and there. Nothing but a strangled noise left him as he nodded hesitantly, after which Lance leaned forward to nuzzle his face into his groin, lips leaving nothing but faint butterfly touches along his dick as he seemed to rest his head against Keith. With his eyes half-lidded, nearly closed, he then blindly reached up to take a hold of Keith's dick again and began stroking it languidly, his other hand absent-mindedly massaging Keith's ass.

"L-Lance," Keith pleaded, unsure whether he could take this indescribable feeling any longer.

Keith was gasping at this point, breath coming in shallow bursts of air, legs beginning to tremble. When Lance took him back into his mouth, it felt like his dick was about to explode and his groin was about to melt from the white hot pleasure rushing through his body. Keith's brain instantly went into overdrive trying to estimate how much time he had left before he inevitably shot his load down Lance's throat. To calm down, he tore his eyes away from the mind-blowing sight that was Lance on his knees swallowing his dick. He gulped as he screwed his eyes shut and pressed his forehead firmly against the wall in front of him. Despite his hopes, relief didn't come. Not seeing Lance only resulted in the sounds he was making echoing that much louder. Keith could clearly hear just how sloppy and wet it all was, could hear the occasional little gag. Most important of all, he could hear Lance's moaning in delight, which sent vibrations down his dick that gradually made it more and more difficult for Keith to keep himself from moving and thrusting himself further into that inviting wet heat. Being sucked off was already incredible enough, but hearing just how much Lance enjoyed it made Keith want to worship him. 

Soon enough, Lance truly had him all the way down his throat and kept him there. Keith by this point was close to punching a hole through the wall, forcing him to focus all his willpower on keeping at least a semblance of composure. Lance was so far gone now, at least one of them had to keep it together. When his senses returned somewhat, Keith suddenly heard something like a whimper. Alarmed, his gaze shot downwards. What he found was tears running down Lance's face as he seemed to go bluer by the second. He looked in pain. Fully panicked now, Keith abruptly pulled out of Lance's mouth and watched in horror as he collapsed forward, coughing violently and gasping for air. "Lance, what were you doing? You almost choked!"

As Keith yelled, Lance stopped coughing, then slowly raised his head to look at him, his face wet with spit and pre-cum. "I like it." Without waiting for a response from a completely shocked and flustered Keith, Lance took him back into his mouth again without missing a beat. After shallowly sucking on the head, his eyes glanced up at Keith again. "Mess me up, Keith."

With his brain totally overloading, Keith could only think a mantra of "yes, yes, yes, fuck yes" as Lance let him slide into his throat again. When the words finally did register, Keith still couldn't comprehend them. Only when Lance took a hold of his thighs again and pulled him in, effectively pushing his dick further down his throat, did Keith understand what he wanted. "Lance…" He _wanted_ to protest, but had absolutely no will left to resist anything Lance was demanding him to do. His own desire overrode any remaining hesitation and with his fingers tightening in Lance's hair, Keith shallowly thrust forward. Lance gagged but didn't pull away and Keith probably could have launched himself to the moon with the wave of electric pleasure that hit him. He continued like that, carefully and slowly thrusting into Lance's throat. He could see spit dripping down Lance's chin now, could see him looking both in pain and like he was experiencing a most supreme pleasure. He for sure wasn't doing this simply to please Keith and somehow that was the hottest thing about it all.

As his hips grew more erratic and his breathy moans louder, Keith knew his orgasm was approaching fast. Despite being prepared for it, it still managed to hit him by surprise when Lance suddenly began moving his tongue against him as he thrust in. Keith wanted to warn him and make him pull off, but Lance seemed determined to swallow him down even further. Lance's fingers dug into his thighs as Keith's body began to shake, the pleasure intense enough it felt like his soul was leaving his body. Keith was in utter disbelief as he shot a load big enough down Lance's throat it felt like his dick was melting inside his mouth. With the demanding hands on his thighs edging him on, Keith continued holding on to the back of Lance's head and kept him where he was, stopping him from further assaulting his now unbearably sensitive dick. It felt like Lance was greedily sucking the cum out of him, swallowing every last drop. When the sensation of Lance's throat still contracting around his dick grew almost painful, Keith somewhat abruptly pulled himself out of Lance's mouth. The wet pop that came along with that almost made him drop to his knees. With Lance still in a bit of a daze, Keith slid his hand against Lance's forehead to keep him where he was. His eyes on Keith's dick were almost predatory, like he would go at it once more if not held back.

Lance seemed to notice how intensely focused Keith was on his face. Some of the haze lifted as he smirked mischievously. "Was that good?" he asked, voice raspy and hoarse from having a cock shoved down his throat. Shockingly, no cum dribbled from his mouth.

Keith could only nod dumbly, still completely at Lance's mercy. His body felt weightless, vulnerable. He was thankful that Lance wasn't like him and didn't use any possible chance to tease him. Keith had been disarmed to an almost embarrassing degree and a person more sadistic than Lance could have easily taken advantage of that. "What about you?" he managed to get out weakly. "Should I…?"

The smirk vanished from Lance's face as he sheepishly lowered his gaze. "I-I'm good."

Bewildered and confused, Keith searched his face to understand what that meant, before his eyes trailed down Lance's body to where he was nervously fiddling with his pants. "Did you get off on blowing me?"

Lance's telling silence only confirmed Keith's assumption, making the fog still occupying his mind only that much denser. When Keith finally began gathering his bearings again, the cold air hitting his wet dick grew biting and prompted him to tidy himself up again. He still had an ad to shoot after all. Safe for being wet with some spit, there wasn't much he had to clean up, so simply stuffing himself back into his pants sufficed. Truly, not a single drop had escaped. Lance, on the other hand, would have to spend the rest of his time on set pretending he hadn't blown a load in his pants.

Mindful of his legs that still felt like jelly, Keith carefully sat down in front of Lance and leaned against a desk for support. Immediately, his body felt like it was melting into the floor. "That was uh…" He cleared his throat as he could feel a flush spreading across his face. He really had never, in a million years, expected for Lance to ever do something like this. It had been like something straight out of a wet dream. Simply the image of Lance on his knees happily choking on his dick was burned into Keith's mind so intensely, it would probably come to haunt him over the next few weeks, perhaps _months_. "How do you know how to deep-throat anyway?"

Lance was also still working through his post-orgasm haze and looked fully ready to take a nap, eyes half-lidded and body slumped against a chair. "I looked it up. My gag reflex isn't that bad, so I knew I'd probably be able to do it if I tried."

The answer was so nonchalant and quiet, Keith couldn't believe he was talking to the same Lance who had so vehemently insisted that dicks freaked him out not too long ago. Of course, Lance was still coming off of a pretty intense high, so the embarrassment would surely come in once that wore off. Keith would have liked to come off more unaffected and composed, but after what Lance had just done to him, that was impossible. "And… and the… you know…"

Despite the fragmented attempt at a question, Lance seemed to understand. "I mean… I'm a guy too, you know. I know what I like."

Immediately, all sorts of images ran through Keith's heads, ones he would rather not see. "Do I need to buy Nyma a drink or something to thank her?"

Eyes widening slightly at the response, Lance eventually averted his gaze and shrugged sheepishly. "Maybe…"

Usually, Keith would have gotten a little angry. He couldn't help being jealous, not when Lance was such a social butterfly and Keith sometimes wasn't sure whether he was intentionally flirting with people or if that was simply how he communicated. But with his brain still not quite reconnected with the rest of his body, Keith couldn't feel much other than a peaceful calm after the rollercoaster ride that was getting blown by Lance. "I can go see if I can find you anything clean to wear. Wardrobe should have something. Also um…" Keith could feel a flush instantly take over his face when he took a closer look at Lance's current state. "You should uh… go to a bathroom and w-wash up or something."

It took Lance a moment, but then he touched the back of his hand to his face and evidently felt the slickness still stuck to his mouth and chin. "Yeah…" He used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe his face, eyes occasionally glancing in Keith's direction. "You should probably 'wash up' a little too. You should see yourself, man." His teasing little chuckle made it obvious Keith probably looked as fucked out as he felt.

Keith tensed up a little when Lance's sharp eyes were on him again, that predatory and mischievous gleam in them. He wasn't used to Lance being so forward and it was honestly more than he could handle without completely giving in to whatever he wanted. Lance could probably ask him to bark and he would do it. When Lance suddenly crawled towards him, movement clumsy and still a little unsteady, Keith was prepared for another attack of some kind. To his astonishment, Lance merely sidled up beside him and leaned in close enough to kiss, but didn't close the distance. There was a question in his eyes. "Oh…" Keith murmured when he understood. "It's fine." He couldn't deny a Lance a kiss just because his own dick had been in his mouth. It seemed like a rude thing to do.

A smile lit up Lance's face, then he closed the distance and their lips met in a kiss that was almost laughably gentle when compared to what they had been doing mere minutes ago. For a moment, they simply enjoyed the silky feel of each other's lips. Keith could taste himself on Lance. Although it grossed him out a little, the taste mingling into Lance's was strangely alluring. When Keith tried to deepen the kiss, tried to lick his way into Lance's mouth, he was pushed away.

"Wha–"

"Can't let you mess up your makeup," Lance chuckled, straightening out Keith's outfit like a mother concerned for her son on his first day of school. "I already messed you up in so many ways. At least your makeup needs to stay intact. It took a long time to do after all."

By now Keith had no brain capacity left to decipher whether Lance was joking or if he truly cared about Keith's makeup. It was probably a mix of both. A little annoyed at how Lance was gloating over being oh so in control of the situation, Keith leaned in close enough until he could whisper directly in his ear, making sure to keep his voice low and husky. "You sure seem composed considering you just sucked my dick like a porn star." When he pulled away to gauge Lance's reaction, he found him completely frozen, with a deer in headlights expression on his face. He looked so incredibly flustered, Keith instantly knew that his calm demeanour this entire time had been merely an act.

In truth, Lance was probably overthinking the situation again and trying to cover up how unsure he really was of himself. It was a little shocking how good Lance was at covering up his insecurities. Unlike Keith, who couldn't hide his emotions no matter how much he tried, Lance could so naturally put on a smile and crack a joke, fooling anyone into thinking there was absolutely nothing wrong. Inevitably, it made Keith wonder just how much Lance was hiding without him even realising.

Once they were both able to stand without wobbling, they made their back way to set. There was still time left before shooting would begin again, the crew already hard at work completely changing their set-up. Keith and Lance sneakily made their way to a nearby bathroom and made sure they at least looked presentable. The fact that they had wandered off together for quite a while would probably tip off at least a few people, so there wasn't much use in desperately trying to hide what they had been up to. The moment Shiro caught sight of them when they returned, he suggestively wiggled his eyebrows at them, making Keith cringe. Sometimes he wondered whether Shiro did this stuff on purpose to make up for all the years of not having a dad to embarrass him.

"Lance, even when people ask you, don't–" When Keith turned to warn Lance about not giving in to people's questions about what they had been up to, he found him staring down at his phone with unabashed terror in his eyes. "Lance?"

Flinching, Lance raised his head to look at Keith with his hands nervously gripping his phone. Slowly, the fear seemed to seep out of him as he quickly put on a smile and laughed awkwardly. "S-Sorry, what were you saying?" When Keith didn't reply and simply stared him down, he began to ramble. "So my phone… I've been getting these spam mails recently and they're kinda messed up. You know, showing me passwords I used like five years ago and saying they have recordings from my webcam of me jacking off and stuff. Trying to blackmail me and everything. Pretty crazy stuff, huh? Can't believe how far people will go just to get a couple bucks out of you. Ha ha…"

It was clear to both of them that Lance was lying. Badly. Keith was overcome with an incredibly bad feeling after seeing Lance looking at his phone that way. There weren't many things that could throw Lance off this much with a simple text and the fact that he was hiding it from Keith didn't bode well with him at all. Even though Keith wanted to dig, he knew he probably shouldn't. After denying Lance the truth so many times, and so blatantly as well, did he really have any right to demand the truth from him? "Come on, sit down," he urged him quietly, gently leading Lance back towards his chair next to Shiro, who instantly greeted them with a teasing grin.

"Had fun on your break, huh, Keith?"

"Don't." Frown only deepening at Shiro's ensuing laughter, Keith sent him a glare that he hoped served as a warning. Before he could further drill into Shiro that he needed to shut up or else, a crew member tapped him on the arm and told him he was needed back on set. With one last glance at Lance, who shot him an easy smile, Keith begrudgingly returned to his place in front of countless cameras. The director was already rattling off the summary and goals for the next scene, seemingly unaware of Keith's sullen mood. Considering he was supposed to play a relatively stone-faced and cold character, Keith figured he should probably make use of how he was feeling. There wasn't much else he could do with these emotions _but_ to use them.

By this point Keith couldn't tell anymore whether the way he handled his emotions could be considered normal or not. He felt deeply and strongly, so there was no way around channeling his emotions into his work. His emotions were ever-present and constant, prone to overflowing when he ignored them. Over time, the impulsive energy coursing through his body could build up and explode at any time and without warning. Even knowing all this, Keith couldn't say he was all that in touch with his emotions, much less those of other people. He knew his bluntness rubbed people the wrong way and had accepted long ago that not everyone in the world would like him. As long as the few people he actually cared about liked him, that was all he needed.

Lance was the first person to ever make Keith want to understand him on an emotional level. Keith wanted to understand himself better to perhaps better empathise with whatever Lance was going through. With Lance so avoidant when it came to conflict and so closed off about his true feelings, Keith had a hard time understanding him sometimes. Lance was a people person, the life of any party, easily drawing attention to himself with his bright personality wherever he went. But at the same time he was unbelievably observant, easily making Keith feel strangely exposed whenever he was faced with that sharp gaze. Unfortunately, Lance was also sensitive and quick to take negativity to heart. Keith couldn't even count the times he had caught Lance pretending to not feel hurt when something clearly upset or bothered him.

With Lance being such an odd mix of qualities, it was difficult for Keith to really, truly understand him. It hadn't taken Keith long to realise that his bluntness easily threw Lance off and could make him misunderstand his intentions. Thinking back, Keith could understand why their relationship seemed more than a little odd to outsiders. Him and Lance weren't quite polar opposites, but parts of them simply didn't mesh well with each other.

"Keith, you're not on your mark," someone called out, abruptly tearing Keith away from his musings.

As he took a step towards the left until he was standing on his yellow mark on the floor, Keith's eyes briefly wandered to Lance, who was in the middle of talking to Shiro. Judging by the indignant look on Lance's face, Keith could tell Shiro was teasing him in that embarrassing dad kind of way. It took all he had not to break out into an amused smile when the cameras began rolling and he had to rattle off his lines.

Perhaps having Lance visit him at work wasn't so bad once in a while. After all, it also gave Keith a reason to maybe visit Lance at work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any typos and other errors. I edit in the middle of the night, so pretty often I struggle to keep my eyes open, let alone edit and proof-read anything. I'm almost certain there's bound to be mistakes that I missed.
> 
> I'll be back with another chapter in another month or so. That time frame seems to work best. By the way, I do reply to all comments, it just takes me a long time. I'll usually reply to all comments when I upload a new chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	9. I - IIIm - VIm - IIm - V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the later than usual update! I had an exam and right after I had the opposite of a writer's block; I got so absorbed in writing other things that I couldn't find time to work on this chapter and complete it. I can only hope my soggy brain didn't miss too many errors while proofreading.

"Have you slept with _that_ girl?"

"Uh… maybe? Her hairstyle seems kinda familiar."

Lance scoffed as he turned to shoot Keith a mocking look, the chilly night air making him unconsciously lean into his warmth. "You realise people change their hairstyles sometimes, right?"

"How else am I supposed to tell people apart?" Keith grumbled back, not resisting when Lance's arm slung a little tighter around his shoulder. "I told you my memory's hazy when it comes to that stuff."

Chuckling to himself a little, Lance took a sip from his neon-blue cocktail and let himself sink deeper into the small couch he was sitting on with Keith. His eyes wandered across the crowd of people gathered near the extravagantly lit pool, finding a myriad of faces he recognised from television and movies. Despite being at a rooftop party meant for meeting people, hardly anyone dared to approach Keith. Sometimes people would chat up Lance to somehow indirectly gain access to Keith, but the conversation would quickly die down once Keith staring them down made them back off. To other people Keith probably looked like he would rather be left alone, face stony and posture anything _but_ inviting, yet the possessive grip he kept on Lance's thigh as they sat together on a tiny couch near a decorative fountain said otherwise.

"You still haven't told me why we're even here," Lance eventually said while staring down into his drink. "I thought you hated networking parties like this."

Keith shrugged, lazily taking a sip of his ridiculously dainty martini. "I thought you might like it."

Lance could immediately feel his face heat up with a surprised flush. "I-I mean I do. I'm having fun. But are _you_?"

Keith turned his head away as he answered, hiding whatever was happening on his face. "You're here… so…"

Even though Keith couldn't even see him, Lance still instinctively lowered his head to try and hide his burning face. He didn't think much of it when Keith shifted next to him, until suddenly his jaw was grabbed and his head turned, warm lips melting into his a moment later. "Keith, we're in public," he quickly protested when he managed to pull away.

"Don't care."

"Mhnf…!" Unable to deny Keith's advances, Lance gave in immediately and momentarily forgot he was surrounded by celebrities and other generally important people. He had seen other couples stealing away into dark corners and retreating to their own cozy little spots to make out, so surely no one would mind Lance devouring his boyfriend a little. He could tell Keith was getting completely lost in his desires, leaving Lance to pull away to stop him before he got too carried away. There was a possibility they were being photographed or recorded after all. Elated at the annoyed little growl Keith made when he broke the kiss, Lance then drew Keith closer so he could softly run his lips over his jaw up to his ear. He was rewarded with a surprised moan, one that told him one thing for sure. "Are your ears sensitive?" he asked in an almost incredulous tone.

Almost immediately, Keith reverted back to his usual frown and pushed Lance away by his shoulder. "I'm not. Don't touch them."

"You know you're contradicting yourself, right?"

Keith didn't even grace Lance with an answer, resorting instead to glaring at the small crowd of people near the DJ booth that had been watching them intently. When Lance glanced their way, he saw some of them with their phones out, but couldn't tell if they had been recording anything. Even if they had, he didn't particularly care. He didn't need to hide his relationship anymore and considering all the rumours, having photos and videos like that out there would probably benefit Keith and him in the long run. "Isn't that a really famous model?" he eventually asked, trying to lighten the mood when Keith was clearly sulking. "Can't remember her name off the bat. What was it again…?"

"She can't be that famous if you can't even remember her name."

It was almost cute how Keith got jealous over the oddest things. In fact, Lance had more of a reason to be jealous, being surrounded by people Keith may or may not have slept with in some orgy he couldn't even remember. But dating a highly sought after celebrity had taught Lance to simply let it go. He _had_ to. It was a constant battle against himself and his own mind, but gradually he had reached a point where he could have conversations like this with Keith without jealousy sinking its ugly claws into him instantly. Lance knew he was probably overcompensating a little by being so interested in Keith's past partners, but it was better than the constant, crippling anxiety that came with thinking Keith would leave him for someone else.

"Hey, Keith," a gruff voice suddenly called out, cutting through the chatter and music of the party.

The moment Lance raised his head to find the owner of the oddly familiar voice, he nearly slipped off the couch. It was as though he was simultaneously hit by a bolt of lightning and frozen into an icicle. His throat was suddenly incredibly dry, his jaw inadvertently dropping as he desperately prayed to hear that absolutely mind-boggling voice again.

"I thought you hated parties like this," the newcomer noted dryly, his tone teasing despite his neutral expression as he stopped in front of Keith. "Finally coming out of your shell, huh?"

"Stop treating me like a kid, Kolivan," Keith snapped back, defiantly taking a sip from his drink. "I'm not fifteen anymore."

"I wouldn't know, you still act like it."

While the two exchanged banter like that, Lance was still in the process of trying to wrap his mind around the lead singer of _The Marmoras_ standing mere feet from. He knew he was staring with a totally awestruck expression, but he couldn't help himself. He had adored _The Marmoras_ since his early teens and _still_ listened to their music on a regular basis. They were a legendary band, touring the entire world countless times over the past two decades and inspiring many of the bands currently making music. And yet no one could ever hold a candle to _The Marmoras_ , who were still active and making incredible, constantly evolving music.

Kolivan eventually acknowledged Lance's obvious fanboying, making his cold exterior crack with a thin smile. "At least your boyfriend seems excited." He shot Keith a look that oddly resembled Shiro when he was acting like an embarrassing father. "Introduce us."

Keith, clearly resistant to simply obeying such blunt orders, didn't immediately comply. But with Lance instantly staring his way with metaphorical stars eagerly shimmering in his eyes, he couldn't resist for long. "Lance, this is Kolivan. Kolivan, this is Lance. Happy?"

"Very." Kolivan smirked with satisfaction, stepping forward to offer Lance his hand. His smirk quickly morphed into an amused smile when Lance instantly jumped up from the couch and out of Keith's hold on his leg to excitedly accept the hand shake. "Nice meeting you, Lance. I hope Keith isn't driving you up a wall every other day."

"He is, to be honest," Lance immediately replied, completely oblivious of Keith's murderous gaze directed at the back of his head. "Sometimes I really don't know why I'm dating this guy."

"Not like you're much of a catch either, shit-head," Keith immediately barked from the couch.

"What are you talking about?" Lance asked in an overly shocked and offended tone, turning enough to be able to glare at his boyfriend while continuing to reverently hold on to Kolivan's hand. "I'm _perfect_ , how dare you! You don't know how good you have it with me."

"I could definitely do with less of your idiot ramblings, idiot."

"Says the idiot who texted me _'I can't find my phone'_ from your phone."

"That's rich coming from the moron who walked into a streetlight _and_ a glass door on the way here."

Frowning now, Lance turned back to Kolivan. "I can't even break up with him cause he's my ride home."

Kolivan seemed a little dumbfounded at first, but soon broke out into a gentle little laugh. "You've finally found your match, huh, Keith."

Upon Keith's quiet "Ugh" of a response, Kolivan simply continued to chuckle in that quiet and melodious way of his. Usually, Lance probably would have devolved into a nervous fanboying mess in front of one of his favourite artists in the world, but having Keith there helped to make him feel more normal, more grounded. "I really like your music," he suddenly blurted out, immediately embarrassed over his inelegant word choice.

Instead of looking bemused by the awkward compliment, Kolivan smiled genuinely. "Thanks, Lance."

Lance could have melted into the ground right there with how much warm joy instantly flowed through his body. _He said my name!_ he cheered to himself, vowing to treasure the memory of Kolivan's silky, dark voice saying his name for the rest of his life.

Kolivan seemed genuinely entertained by Lance's starry-eyed gaze and Keith's resulting jealousy. "Hey, Lance, want me to tell you embarrassing stories about Keith from his teen heart-throb days?"

"Yes!" Lance instantly agreed with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I can tell you embarrassing stories about Keith in kindergarten in return."

"Deal."

Seeing the exchange, Keith began yelling from the couch. "Don't bond over my embarrassing past, you assholes!"

But Keith was too late, because Kolivan had already begun to tell the tale of young Keith and his first ever interview.

* * *

Lance was oh so close to physically pushing Keith away to get him to finally leave. "I'll be fine, Keith. Just _go_! I won't run or anything."

"I'm not worried about what _you're_ gonna do once I'm gone," Keith grumbled with a glare towards the many people around them, although eventually he did finally get up and made to leave. "I'm coming back right away."

"I _know_. Just go to the toilet already, jeez." Lance could see in Keith's eyes that he was probably debating whether to make Lance come with him, but also seemed to realise how absolutely overbearing that would be. Luckily, Keith finally backed down and walked away, his pace brusque and clearly meant to indicate he wasn't up for anyone randomly chatting him up as he rushed away.

Left behind was Lance, still on the couch, a sigh of relief bursting out of him the moment Keith was out of sight. As much as he liked the guy, Keith could be suffocating. Sometimes it felt as though he wanted to make up for all the times they couldn't see each other by being on Lance's case about anything and everything whenever they did meet. It was a little exhausting, to say the least. And so Lance began to relax and enjoy his moment of reprise, casually sipping at his third or so drink of the night. He wasn't a lightweight by any means, but he could definitely feel the alcohol beginning to course through his system, dulling his senses and making him feel airy and elated. The crisp night air helped to keep him focused enough to watch the many celebrities he was surrounded by. He was surprised to realise that a lot of the usually animated and excited TV personalities were much quieter and more mellow in real life. It was only natural that these people put on a bit of an act to appear on TV, but it was fascinating to see first-hand nonetheless.

"You're Lance, right?"

Startled by the sudden voice, Lance jumped a little before he found a man approaching him, then stopping in front of the couch. "Y-Yes," he stammered hesitantly as he stood up, wondering what this guy could possibly want other than Keith. "Can I help you?"

"That depends." Sporting a charming grin, the man seemed incredibly approachable and friendly, but that could easily have been a front to hide his ulterior motives. "I'm Blaytz," he introduced himself, holding out his hand for Lance to shake. "I run a book publishing company."

"Uh hi," Lance replied after a moment of hesitation, returning the hand shake with a firm grip.

"You're probably wondering why I'm chatting you up when you haven't written any books." Blaytz was grinning, but the knowing glint in his eyes belied his casual and cheerful attitude. "Well, I've read some of your articles."

Lance immediately cringed mentally and feverishly began to wonder just what Blaytz had read. "So you've read my old articles about…"

"About Keith? Yeah, I have." Blaytz sounded a tad too unbothered, considering how vile and mean-spirited some of those articles had been. "But I've also read some of your other work. Especially some of the things you published under your college's newspaper. Those articles were pretty intriguing."

Not being used to people praising his work, Lance genuinely had no idea how to respond. He could only stare in awe as this seemingly important book publisher man complimented something he had written. "I… uh… thanks. That's… really great to hear." Lance smile was shaky with the effort not to let out the happy laugh that wanted to escape him.

Seemingly infected by Lance's joy, Blaytz's grin widened. "Have you ever tried writing a book?"

Smile fading a little, Lance nervously averted his eyes as he replied. "Not really. I've never even thought about writing a book or anything. I've been told I just… suck at writing. A _lot_."

Blaytz's grin disappeared as well and was replaced by a thoughtful frown. "I wouldn't call it 'bad', just a little unpolished," he then said, searching for words with his gaze briefly rising to the night sky. "I really think that with a good editor to guide and help you, you could write some really compelling stuff. There's this draw to what you write that's difficult to master just by trying. And the way you choose your words is very refreshing. I see your writing as a diamond in the rough, rather than something outright bad." Blaytz seemed to notice the sheer lack of confidence oozing out of Lance, because instead of continuing to try and convince him, he shot him a kind smile. "If you're ever interested, feel free to contact me. I'll gladly have a chat with you."

Feeling an odd kinship with the man as he handed him a business card, Lance gratefully returned the smile. "Thanks."

"See you around." Blaytz left with a smile and a cheesy wink, prompting Lance to send back an equally cheesy eyebrow wiggle. Even being as outgoing as he was, it was rare he hit it off _this_ well with someone right away. It almost made him want to consider writing a book simply so he could work with Blaytz.

Lance was still in the middle of basking in the praise Blaytz had showered him with, when suddenly he noticed the discord beginning to brew nearby. The entrance area of the rooftop so far had been been relatively empty, everyone casually spread out around the many tables, chairs, and couches, some leisuring in the sparkling blue pool. But now a small group had formed at the entrance and looked to be in the middle of some kind of tense argument. Lance froze when he saw the two people in the midst of it: Keith and a famous actor he had seen in more than a few movies.

Lotor was probably as famous as you could get as an actor, appearing in massive blockbusters at least once or twice every year. With his cunning smile and sharp eyes he often played villainous roles, but with his good looks he also frequently got cast as the lead in action movies or as the love interest in dramas. His filmography was impressive, to say the least. That was the kind of person Keith was apparently about to punch.

Messily dropping his drink on a nearby table, Lance was up and running within a split second. He dashed through the crowd, somehow managing not to barrel anyone over in his haste. As he approached, he could see security already attempting to separate Keith and Lotor, but neither seemed to want to simply drop it. Keith looked furious and pissed off, but the sneer Lotor was directing at him wasn't any less hostile. Lotor looked intimidating in a way that didn't threaten physical violence but some other form of unmentionable torment. Dressed in a sleek black dress shirt and pants, long hair elegantly slicked back, Lotor looked incredibly regal despite the fierce look in his icy blue eyes. 

When Lance finally made it to Keith, he mustered up a previously unknown amount of strength to bust through the line of security people and grab him by the arm. "Keith, what's going on?" he hissed under his breath, feeling the raw tension coursing through Keith's body.

"Ah, here he is," Lotor all but purred, scornful eyes suddenly turning downright sultry as his gaze swept to Lance. "Your newest conquest. How much does he know, I wonder."

"He knows enough," Keith bit back, suddenly quieter than before with Lance there.

"Does he, now?" With a small chuckle, Lotor began running his eyes all over Lance in a way that felt like he was undressing him with his gaze. "Well, you do seem to have a type." Seeing the question in Lance's face and the threat in Keith's, his smirk widened. "You know, tall, dark… _exotic_."

"Shut the fuck up." Keith's voice was dripping with barely concealed rage, his body beginning to shake with his building need to attack the snooty actor. "You better shut up, Lotor, or–"

"Or what?" Lotor immediately jeered. "Are you threatening me? How violent." By this point, Lotor was downright _basking_ in the anger he could induce in Keith. "It's inconceivable to me what Allura could have possibly seen in you to ever go out with you."

The words took a moment to truly sink in for Lance. At first he thought he may have simply heard wrong. Keith and Allura dating? That would have been major news and caused a massive uproar, what with Keith being so controversial and Allura being the exact opposite. They were like polar opposites in terms of their reputation, one the bad boy pop-star and the other a well respected and award-winning actress. Lance couldn't even picture it. But then he felt Keith tensing up even more next to him, only driving home that whatever Lotor was saying was probably true. 

"Oh, it seems your little pet didn't know about that," Lotor continued, that same mocking smirk still on his face. "Well, honesty was never your strong suit, Keith."

To Lance's surprise, instead of getting angrier, Keith seemed to relax slightly. "You're pathetic," he chuckled, posture loosening up slightly to exude unfiltered cockiness. "You're really _this_ upset about me getting with Allura before you? Are you that insecure? What? Did she call you ' _Keith'_ while you guys fucked?"

Lotor's face instantly distorted into an almost maniacally angry expression. His sneer wavered between maintaining his usual confident bravado and turning into a downright snarl. After composing himself slightly, Lotor suddenly grinned in that infamously devilish way of his. "One night with me and your little pet will be calling _my_ name."

Things happened too fast for Lance to even react. His fatal mistake was unconsciously loosening his grip on Keith's arm throughout the conversation, lulled into a false sense of security by Keith seemingly letting go of some of his anger.

Keith was on Lotor before anyone could stop him. He managed at least one good punch at Lotor's face, another one brushing across his nose, before Lance got a hold of him and pulled him back. Security was stepping in as well, creating a barrier between the two when it looked like Lotor was closing in to return the favour. Both him and Keith were yelling at each other now, exchanging vile insults, and threatening injury to each other. Keith was thrashing in Lance's arms and continued to do so even when several security people got a hold of him.

"Keith!" Lance yelled desperately, begging Keith to finally settle down as he was dragged away. "Calm down!" But his voice fell on deaf ears for a long time.

Only when they were far away enough that Lotor was completely out of sight, did Keith seem to regain some semblance of awareness. His chest was heaving with rapid, panting breaths, face still flushed with anger.

"Cool off for a while here," one of the security men warned with a stern look, pushing Keith into a pool chair. "Pull something like that again and you're out of here."

Lance couldn't help but feel as though anyone below Keith's level of celebrity probably would've gotten kicked out immediately. "You want something to drink?" he asked him quietly, monotonously. He kept his eyes firmly on the floor, hesitant to meet Keith's eyes that were still wild with leftover rage.

It took a while, long enough for Lance to doubt whether he had even heard him, but eventually Keith shook his head. His breathing gradually calmed and the last traces of blinding rage gradually trickled out of him. Neither of them spoke. Lance took to fiddling with the cocktail decoration in one of the empty glasses sitting on a nearby table, Keith meanwhile solemnly sitting with his head down. The silence seemed to stretch on forever, growing thick and stifling.

"I need a drink," Lance suddenly announced, abruptly standing up and making to leave. Just as he was beginning to enjoy the light breeze that cooled his heated skin, he was stopped in his tracks, a hand wrapping around his wrist.

"Wait." Keith's voice was so quiet and soft, it almost sounded foreign. "I'm sorry."

Keith's warmth on his arm, usually comforting and grounding, was now almost painfully hot. "About what?" Lance replied lifelessly. "Getting into a fight over me? Hidings things from me that everyone _but_ me knows about? Not telling me that you and Allura used to _date_?"

Slowly, almost regretfully, Keith's hand slid away from Lance's arm. "I thought you didn't care who I've been with in the past."

"This is different," Lance grumbled back, firmly keeping his gaze on the lit up potted plants nearby.

"How?"

Hearing the exasperation already ringing in Keith's voice, Lance crossed his arms. Suddenly, he felt cold. "This… whatever you had with Allura, you kept it secret. It wasn't some publicity thing, it was _real_. You can't tell me it was fake, Keith."

"Why does it even matter?" As nonchalant as Keith sounded, he was clearly still harbouring some of that earlier anger. "It was in the past!"

"You're gonna shoot a mini-series with her!"

"A project _you_ told me to do!"

"That was before I knew you've _fucked_ her!"

With an annoyed sigh, Keith shook his head as he forced himself to calm down with a few deep breaths. "I don't like you talking about your exes, so I don't talk about mine either. I don't see how it matters." His tone was frigid, just barely masking the anger that still wanted to sneak into his voice. "We're dating _now_ , right? Also, how is this different from you meeting Nyma? Don't you think it's hypocritical to go off on me about Allura but also get upset when I question your relationship with Nyma?"

"You–!" Lance quickly realised that Keith was indeed completely right. "I just…" Clenching his fists, Lance actually took a moment to examine why he was so upset over Allura, when he had been able to disregard all of Keith's other past partners. Perhaps somewhere deep inside he had felt superior for being in an actual relationship with Keith, for not just being his fake lover for publicity or a one-night fling in an orgy. But by the looks of it, things had been more serious with Allura. When realisation hit him, Lance slowly crumbled, sinking to the floor until he was crouching with his face buried in his arms."How am I supposed to compare to her?"

"Lance, why would you even–"

Hearing Keith's disbelieving voice, it all simply began bursting out of Lance. "I'm pretty average in terms of looks, I don't have a steady job, and I don't know if I'll even graduate college. I barely have enough of an income with my writing to pay my rent and I just…!" Lance cut himself off before he could reveal even more of his embarrassing insecurities. "Meanwhile Allura's been successful her whole life, you know! She's been acting since she was little and worked her way to the top, has a completely clean slate in terms of scandals, is in some kind of top ten list of sexiest women alive _every year_ , and has more talent in her pinky than I have in my whole damn body!" It took a few deep breaths for Lance to keep his voice from shaking. "I can't compare at all!"

Keith was silent for only a moment, his voice devoid of emotion when he spoke. "You really can't." When Lance flinched at the blunt response, Keith crouched down in front of him. "You forgot to mention your pitiful lack of self-confidence, by the way." Keith began playing with the decorative zipper on Lance's jacket sleeve, which broke up the tension immensely. "I thought we went through this whole thing already. Sometimes I really don't know why I put up with you." The sigh he let out was more exasperated than genuinely annoyed. "You're right, you know. I could pretty easily just date some model or actor if I wanted to. I could make it happen with a single phone call and it would for sure cause less of a scene than dating a random college journalist no one knows." Slowly, his fingers shifted from Lance's sleeve to underneath the fabric, where he gently ran them over Lance's wrist in soothing circles. "But I still chose you. Because I want _you_." He suddenly chuckled somewhat dryly. "And you picked me, the guy who just dragged you into a major scandal by punching an actor with a massive worldwide fanbase." 

Momentarily enjoying Keith's ministrations, Lance took a while to respond. "You have more fans," he eventually murmured grumpily.

That finally made Keith let out a genuine laugh. "I appreciate the sentiment, but that doesn't change the fact that I'll probably get charged for battery. Lotor's the type of guy to run to his lawyers the second someone wrongs him." He put on a thin smile when Lance shot him a panicked look. "Don't look at me like that. There's also a chance nothing will happen. Lotor might be embarrassed that I got a good sucker-punch in. Maybe he'll just drop it and hope everyone forgets about it soon."

"I don't like him," Lance added with a small frown. "He has a mean face."

Keith's amused smirk seemed etched into his face by this point. "That face helped him land a lot of successful gigs, so I don't know if I'd say it's all bad."

"He looks like a rat."

Finally, after trying to suppress it and letting a snort escape, Keith broke out into barks of laughter loud enough to attract the attention of a few very baffled party-goers. Lance couldn't remember Keith ever laughing this loudly in all the time he had known him. It was mesmerising, to say the least. Keith's honest smile was blinding, his slightly hoarse laughter melodious; almost as though any and all sound he emitted inevitably turned into music. Neon-blue light from the pool danced across Keith's face and when he opened his eyes to look at Lance, there was a vast depth of warm emotion in his gaze, to the point it almost robbed Lance of his breath. Before Lance realised it, he was leaning in and pulling Keith in by the front of his jacket to kiss him. But despite the rough start, the kiss itself was soothing yet exhilarating. It both put Lance's heart at ease and made the rest of his body burn up with desire.

Keith was the one to break the kiss, his breathing a little ragged when he spoke. "We need to stop," he murmured with laughter still tinging his voice. "I might start taking off your clothes if we keep going."

Lance leaned in again for another kiss, not giving Keith a chance to say anything else. He needed more, more of Keith, more of his unbearable heat, more of the echo of his laughter still dancing on his lips. He moaned into Keith's warm lips, unable to contain himself when he felt Keith's hand on his neck.

"I'm serious," Keith managed to eventually gasp out between kisses, barely even parting from Lance. "If we're gonna keep going, let's at least go–" A surprised gasp burst out of him when Lance moved to his ear and licked the shell of his ear, warm breath fanning over the damp skin and making him shudder. "Lance…!"

"So are your ears sensitive or not?" Lance whispered, feeling his own hot breath fanning over Keith's skin. He was abruptly pushed away, left to stare at a flushed Keith while being kept at arm's length.

"They're not," Keith insisted, gaze going anywhere _but_ Lance. "Don't lick them. It feels gross."

 _They totally_ are _sensitive_ , Lance mused, but stayed silent and vowed to explore this later when they weren't in public, when he could coax as many little gasps and moans out of Keith as he wanted without fear of being heard.

"Do you wanna leave?"

Taken off guard by the sudden question, Lance stared at Keith for a long time trying to figure out where this was coming from. "I mean… I wouldn't mind staying. Do _you_ wanna leave?"

Keith was sporting a poker face again, keeping whatever he was hiding locked behind a mask of indifference. "If we go to my house, we can continue this."

Gulping when he saw the suggestive glint in Keith's eyes, Lance began nodding involuntarily; it took his brain a brief moment to catch up with his body. "Y-Yeah. Sure. Let's do that."

A smirk finally poked through Keith's poker face. "Come on," he murmured as he swiftly got to his feet.

Seeing Keith recover so easily after making out like that baffled him to no end; Lance, meanwhile, still reeling just from hearing Keith's suggestive words at such a close distance. His heart was racing and his face felt impossibly flushed, making him feel like a hormonal teenager on his first date. As he stumbled to follow after Keith, he wondered just how many people had been watching them. Recalling how aggressively he had insisted on claiming Keith's lips, he could feel his entire head burning with embarrassment when he walked past people who threw him lingering looks. In the dimness of the roof party he couldn't see any faces clearly without looking closely, so it was all the more disconcerting. He flinched when he accidentally bumped into someone's shoulder and suddenly, he wasn't sure anymore why his heart was racing. Surrounded by faces hidden in shadow, being stared at from all sides, trapped on a roof with only one exit, he was suddenly overtaken by a sense of impending doom. He dreaded receiving a text message in that moment. Dreaded reading words that implied he was being watched. Implied that whoever was watching was _close_. 

The hand suddenly wrapping around his made him jump, a gasp escaping him. His first instinct was to pull his hand away, but then Keith turned around and he was brought back to reality.

"Lance?"

Hearing Keith's voice grounded Lance even further and seemed to chase away the shadows that had laid themselves over Lance's eyes. All of a sudden, the rooftop party seemed much brighter and a lot less threatening.

"You okay?" Keith asked with a concerned frown.

Lance couldn't possibly tell him that recently a stranger had begun regularly sending him eery emails, before moving on to text messages that made him more paranoid with each passing day. Sometimes they were innocuous, simple greetings or harmless questions.

_"Good morning."_

_"What's your favourite food?"_

_"You work a lot, huh?"_

Unfortunately, those seemingly harmless messages were almost always followed up by something that made the hairs on the back of Lance's neck stand up.

_"You look nice today."_

_"I can make dinner for you. I'll bring it to your place."_

_"Watch out."_

Keith's grip around Lance's wrist tightened when he continued to stay silent, prompting him to finally open his mouth and answer. "It's nothing," Lance forced out quietly. "Just tired." He could see in Keith's face that he didn't believe him. So far things hadn't progressed past the occasional concerning message, so it felt silly to worry about it and get paranoid. Safe for the first time he had received one of these messages, Lance hadn't directly encountered whoever was doing this. Or at least he thought he hadn't. The feeling of constantly being watched by strangers, even actively _observed_ by reporters should have been familiar by now, but since the messages had started it was as though he could constantly feel eyes boring into the back of his neck from somewhere he couldn't see them. Every time Lance jumped at shadows or flinched at sudden loud noises, he told himself to not be such a nervous wreck over a few simple messages. He never responded, yet this person merrily continued to send messages in the sort of overly familiar tone that had occasionally made Lance question whether they had ever met before and if this was perhaps some kind of crazy mix-up. But then the passive-aggressive threats towards Keith would come and squash those musings.

_"This is our secret, right?"_

_"That guy's always in the way."_

_"Keith needs to disappear."_

Lance was in a daze as he followed Keith. Knowing Keith and his vengeful streak, telling him anything about this would only send him on a frenzy to find this person, which was the last thing Lance wanted. So far he hadn't told _anyone_ about this. He didn't want to make a huge deal out of it, not with it only being a few messages here and there and nothing more. So far there hadn't been any indication that he should be truly worried. Perhaps the messages would simply stop coming someday if he continued ignoring them and not replying.

Something told him it wouldn't be that easy though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a slightly short chapter this time cause I had to split it. It was just getting way too long and didn't flow together that well. I'll try to upload the next chapter sooner to make up for it.
> 
> Please stay healthy!


	10. iv - V - i

"I can't believe he hasn't changed his security system even after I hacked it so easily."

When Lance turned to look at Pidge, he found his short friend sending a scathing look into Keith's front yard. There, a little sign proudly displaying the name of the security system was stabbed into the lawn. "He said that he doesn't really care if anything gets stolen cause he can just buy it again."

This was when Hunk cut in dryly, voice void of emotion, safe for a hint of sarcasm. "But what if obsessive stalkers wanna climb through his windows to get to him? What will he do then?"

Lance could only silently frown at the clear jab directed at him and his, frankly, quite stalker-y behaviour towards Keith when they had first met again. At the time, Keith had dismissed his breaking into his house so quickly, Lance hadn't actually reflected on it much since then. Knowing what he knew now about the way Keith had to live every single day, constantly being watched and followed, he couldn't fathom anymore what had motivated him to break into his home like that.

"Wait, we're going through the front door?" Pidge suddenly asked, tone a little too innocent to be genuine.

There was no room for Lance to snap back, seeing how he had brought this upon himself. He tried in vain to fight down his annoyed frown. "I have a spare key. And I know the code for the digital lock."

"Why don't you just move in together?" Even though Pidge seemed occupied with a handheld game, apparently there was always time to throw mildly biting remarks at Lance. "You pretty much live in his place already anyway."

"Well…" It wasn't as though Lance had never considered it. A part of him wanted to be with Keith as much as possible, but another, much bigger part of him would then recall how many difficulties Hunk and him had gone through to get their current apartment, to be independent from their parents and prove that they were adults and that they could provide for themselves. Throwing all of that away to essentially move into a made bed – an incredibly expensive one, at that – felt unfair to Hunk.

Apparently Lance's regretful glance towards Hunk said as much and prompted the person in question to respond in a perfectly nonchalant tone. "Oh, if you're worried about me, don't be," Hunk chuckled light-heartedly. "I'll just find a new roommate."

"But–"

"Lance, we both knew this would happen eventually." Hunk stopped in his tracks when he arrived in front of the large gate to Keith's house, then turned to face Lance with a bright grin. "And if you weren't gonna bring it up, I was going to at some point."

Eyebrows furrowing together in confusion, Lance came to a stop as well. "What?"

"Oh, Shay?" Pidge bluntly cut in, curiosity piqued.

"Shay?!" Lance parroted almost hysterically. "Did you guys finally make it official? What's going on?"

Sheepishly, Hunk averted his eyes and fiddled with his fingers as he answered. "Yeah… we're dating now."

Both Lance and Pidge reacted by simply screaming, practically yelling over each other about how they had both lost bets on how long it would take for Hunk and Shay to finally get together – they had betted it would take long, just not _this_ long. Hunk and Shay had danced around each other for the better part of two years, already acting like a couple without ever actually making it official for most of that time. Naturally, neither Lance or Pidge calmed down even when they entered through the gate, still screeching as they walked across the front yard. Hunk simply stayed silent, still blushing and shyly keeping his eyes on the ground.

"I _told_ you they were dating this entire time!"

"I know! _Everyone_ knew, Pidge! But those two morons didn't! You can't call that _dating_!" Lance was so agitated and excited by this point that it took him a few tries to get the key into the front door lock. "You don't just… date without knowing it, okay!"

The door suddenly flew open on its own and revealed Keith, his expression grim. "Why the fuck are you screaming in front of my house?"

"Keith, dude!" Lance grabbed Keith by the shoulders the moment he was within reach. "Hunk and Shay are dating now!"

"Seriously?" Keith replied, a hand unconsciously coming up to rest on Lance's side. "About fucking time. I feel like I've heard enough about their not-relationship to write a whole album about." While Hunk laughed sheepishly, Keith's gaze wandered to Pidge, who stared back with a similar amount of interest. "Uh… hi. I'm Keith."

"I know," Pidge simply said, accepting Keith's handshake. "I'm Pidge."

Lance watched the entire exchange giddily and with a certain nervous energy. Given their somewhat dry personalities and tendency for sarcastic, snarky comments, Keith and Pidge seemed like a strangely good fit for each other. He hoped they were as good a match as he was imagining. After meeting Kolivan, one of Keith's few friends, Lance had developed a burning need for Keith to meet his friends as soon as possible. Lance had already cut off quite a few friends who had showed an almost overwhelming interest in him the moment the news about him and Keith had come out. People he hadn't talked to in years had suddenly crawled out of the woodworks to chat him up. As disappointing as that had been to experience, it had only helped Lance cherish his true friends even more.

Just when Keith let everyone inside, Shiro appeared behind him with that ridiculously handsome smile of his. "Hi there," he greeted them casually, the air around him warm and inviting. He immediately hugged Lance and introduced himself to Hunk and Pidge, seemingly leaving the two more star-struck than when encountering Keith. It was only natural, considering Shiro was the personification of charisma, while Keith oozed nothing but "fuck off" vibes at all times.

Seeing the slightly disgruntled look on Keith's face, Lance chuckled. "You want a hug too?" he asked, opening up his arms with a suggestive wiggle of his brows. He knew the response he would get, but seeing Keith reject his offer and walk away with such disgust on his face was still endlessly amusing. The guy simply couldn't accept anything offered to him if it came with even a hint of sarcasm or mirth. Lance followed when Keith headed towards his living room and couldn't resist temptation when he saw his boyfriend's slightly red ears. Without warning, he swiftly closed the distance and hugged Keith from behind. To his amusement, he could feel Keith tensing up like a cat arching its back in agitation. "How is it that you don't mind me sucking your dick but hugging you somehow creeps you out?"

"It's… uncomfortable." Despite his words, Keith didn't try to get out of the hug and gradually relaxed into it. "I don't know how to react."

Having Keith so close, the scent of his skin warm and inviting, Lance could already feel his mind cloud with desire. Before he could even develop a noticeable problem, he stepped away awkwardly. Suddenly, he heard an exasperated sigh behind him, prompting him to turn around and find a disgruntled looking Pidge.

"Did you bring us here to watch you two flirt all day?" Pidge asked, eyes already full of suffering.

"Get used to it," Lance bit back snarkily. "Watch out, we might even make out in front of you. Who knows what will happen!"

"Please don't." Pidge's voice was devoid of emotion. "My poor, innocent eyes."

Lance was about to shoot back a comeback, when he heard the distinct sound of Keith grinding his teeth. "You good?" he blurted out quietly, abruptly turning his attention from Pidge to Keith, who seemed surprised by the sudden question.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"You're grinding your teeth." Lance's heart sank a little seeing the realisation light up in his boyfriend's eyes, as though Keith was only consciously taking note of the pain in that very moment.

"I didn't notice," he murmured a little absent-mindedly. Pain was apparently so common to Keith by this point that at certain levels he didn't even register his own coping mechanisms anymore. Feeling pain was normal to him.

Almost instantly, Lance could feel frustrated tears well up and had to take a deep, shaky breath to keep himself together. While Hunk and Pidge were fully engrossed in their conversation with Shiro in the kitchen, Lance could feel himself crumble. "Sit down," he ordered quietly, unable to manage anything louder than a whisper.

"I'm fine," Keith immediately retorted. "No need to–"

" _Sit_."

Hearing the serious tone of Lance's voice, Keith finally obliged and begrudgingly sank onto his couch. "Happy?"

"Very." A little clueless about how to proceed, Lance glanced towards Shiro, who was really hitting it off with his two friends. "Do you have any medication for this?" He had dreaded the question and even speaking the words still made a deep dark pit open up in his gut. He knew painkillers weren't evil, but he still couldn't help but be wary of them.

"It's not that bad," Keith insisted exasperatedly.

Lance scoffed a little at the words, all too familiar with Keith's tendency to underplay things. " _Yet_."

After staring Lance down for some time and realising that he wasn't backing down, Keith eventually sighed. "I have pills but I don't like taking them cause they make me feel drowsy." He responded to Lance's conflicted expression with a light-hearted smile. "It's really fine. I'll be okay if I sit for a while."

Before Lance could argue any further, Pidge suddenly skidded across the floor towards him, barely stopping short of barrelling him over. "We need to watch _Night of the Druids_! Shiro said he's never seen it! In fact, I don't think the guy's seen _anything_! He doesn't even know what a robeast is!"

"Um…" Lance's gaze slid towards Keith, searching his face to see what he thought of the suggestion. Naturally, all he got in return was dry blankness. "Sure," he eventually gave in, figuring Keith would've said something if he was against it. "There's a bunch of DVDs in that shelf over the–" He hadn't even finished his sentence before Pidge was dashing off, leaving behind nothing but a flash of messy hair and glasses. "Guess that settles it," he murmured with a smile, before letting Keith pull him down next to him. Almost instinctively, he relaxed into Keith as he sat down on the couch, an arm soon settling around his shoulders. He resisted the temptation to devour Keith right there and settled for a chaste peck on the lips.

Soon enough, Shiro and Hunk joined them and settled on the other couch, Pidge then returning with a small pile of DVDs and excitedly quizzing Keith on why he had so many limited edition versions for obscure sci-fi horror movies – apparently Keith's favourite director was a fan of his music and would send him DVDs a little ahead of when they officially released. As Lance relaxed further and further into Keith's warmth, he soon watched his boyfriend and one of his best friends descend deeper and deeper into the nerdiest possible conversation. It eventually reached a point where Lance began tuning them out, completely unable to keep up with the conversation. He had hoped Keith and Pidge would get along, but he was beginning to regret letting them meet.

* * *

Lance was not good with horror movies. He was the type to jump and flinch at even the most obvious jump scares, the sole guy to scream out loud in the theatre. Needless to say, they didn't even make it ten minutes into the movie before Lance was practically in Keith's lap and nearly choking him. He had his arms wrapped around Keith's head, pressing it agains this chest like a stuffed toy meant to comfort him. Keith tolerated it with an albeit sour expression, choosing to ignore Lance's antics and simply enjoy the movie – the little of it he could actually see, at least. Occasionally, he would pat Lance on the back to try and soothe him, but that only ever resulted in Lance screaming, so after a while he simply sat still.

Even though he was fully aware that he was being insufferable, Lance couldn't help himself. There was simply no way he could sit through a movie like this and _not_ get scared out of his mind. He had managed to avoid Keith's pile of horror movies for a while, always able to find excuses and various ways to get out of watching them. But with Pidge dead-set on making Shiro watch this particular movie and him easily agreeing, there was no room for Lance to argue. And so between nervously forcing his gaze onto the screen to at least see parts of the movie and burying his face in Keith's mop of hair, there wasn't a second where he felt at ease.

It was in a moment when the girl on-screen had entered an eery forest that Lance yet again hid his face away. He could hear Keith and Shiro exchanging words, but was too occupied with his fear to really listen to what was going on. Out of curiosity, he opened his eyes, figuring that if people were chatting, whatever was happening in the movie couldn't be so bad.

He was wrong.

The moment Lance opened his eyes, he was met with a disfigured witch-like monster with the kind of horrifyingly inhuman face that would for sure haunt him in his sleep. A pathetically shrill scream tore out of him and his entire body flinched violently in shock. Just as he was about to shoot off angry, yet terrified remarks, he felt a cold stickiness clinging to his shoulder and chest. Looking down, he found his clothes damp, as well as Keith's head drenched in some kind of liquid. Upon glancing up again, he saw a stunned Shiro standing in front of him with a now half full glass of coke.

When the situation finally dawned on Lance – namely, that in his fear he had knocked into Shiro and made him spill his drink all over both Keith and himself –, he felt a cold shudder run down his spine. Keith was silent, which wasn't a good sign. Tentatively, Lance slowly turned his head towards Keith again, who was simply letting the coke drip down his soaked hair without a word. "Um… I–"

Suddenly, Lance was lifted up and found himself hovering in mid-air as Keith held him bridal style. "K-Keith, what–"

Somewhat clumsily, Keith set him back down on the couch, before stiffly heading out of the room. "Stay here," he commanded coldly.

That left Lance bewildered and speechless on the couch, while his friends shot him pitying looks; one more genuinely than the other.

Pidge in particular seemed far too entertained. "Well, guess it was good we got to meet your boyfriend before you guys break up."

Lance could only pout and cross his arms, now more upset than regretful. That was until it dawned on him that the one thing keeping him from having a heart attack – namely clinging to Keith like he was an oversized teddybear – had just disappeared. Lance was now alone on the couch, Hunk and Pidge huddled together on another couch, Shiro in an armchair. It was an oddly domestic sight. The moment he heard the characters in the movie debating going down to the creepy basement, Lance had an immediate impulse to follow Keith to wherever he had left. But recalling his boyfriend's frigid parting words, Lance couldn't bring himself to go.

"Lance."

Frightened out of his train of thought by Shiro's voice, Lance turned terrified eyes to the manager. "Yeah?"

"Go."

"Huh?" It took Shiro pointing towards the door Keith had left through for Lance to understand. "But–"

"Trust me," Shiro insisted with a pointed look towards the door. " _Go_."

Considering Shiro wasn't the type to pull pranks or purposely get Lance in trouble with Keith, there was no reason _not_ to trust his words. And so Lance, with some hesitation, got up from the couch and left the living room. A sigh of relief left him the moment he was out of the room and away from that horrifying movie. The characters were seconds away from being ambushed by some sort of evil demon and Lance was willing to take any chance to escape having to sit through that. He could already tell he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly for a few days.

Once he was out in the hallway, it wasn't difficult to track down where Keith had gone. All the lights were off, dipping the hallway in total darkness. If not for the sliver of light shining out from underneath the bathroom door, Lance probably would have gone right back to the living room. As much as he liked his boyfriend, Keith for sure wasn't worth stumbling through a dark hallways after a full hour of sitting through a horror movie in which scary things suddenly appeared out of the dark. Taking a deep breath to calm his slightly racing heart, Lance hastily rushed towards the bathroom, determined to spend as little time in the dark as possible.

He could hear rushing water as he hastily pulled open the door, before shutting it much more carefully after slipping in. Inside, he was immediately met with a cloud of steam that momentarily clouded his vision. Then, among the steam, he found Keith. "Oh…" he murmured when Keith glanced up at him and noticed him.

Keith was vigorously rubbing a towel over his wet hair, gaze neutral as he regarded Lance. After letting his eyes trail up and down the full length of Lance's body, he clicked his tongue. "I told you not to come."

"I'm sorry, okay," Lance mumbled with an edge of shame. In hindsight, he did feel dumb for getting so freaked out by a movie that he had knocked Shiro's drink out of his hand. "I told you I can't handle horror movies."

"That's not–!" Keith cut himself off with a frustrated sigh. "Well it's kinda related, but still…"

A confused frown taking over Lance's face, he walked closer. "What are you talking about?" He gasped in surprise when Keith suddenly closed the remaining distance and crowded him into the bathroom counter. With Keith's arms trapping him against the counter, there was no way for Lance to escape. Still uncertain whether Keith was angry or not, Lance cautiously met his eyes again. As he stared into those stormy dark pools, with a start he suddenly began to recognise the gleam in Keith's eyes. He wasn't angry, that much Lance was certain of.

His assertion was confirmed when Keith leaned in for a kiss but fell short of Lance's lips, instead hovering for a moment before letting his lips trace over his jaw and neck. Instinctively, Lance reached up to bury his fingers in the soft material of Keith's sweatshirt and leaned into the touch, letting his head drop back slightly to allow Keith better access. The smacking of Keith's lips against his skin made him feel all kinds of hot and fuzzy, his mind slowly clouding over with a mantra of " _More, more, more."_

"Do you even have any idea what you were doing to me?"

The sudden question brought Lance back from his daze, but only enough to mumble out a slightly slurred response. "What?"

With a frustrated little sound, Keith first grumbled something inaudible under his breath before responding. "You sit in my lap and bounce around on my dick the entire movie and expect me to just stay calm?"

Hearing Keith's slightly desperate and lust-tinged voice sent shivers rushing all over Lance's body. "I-I didn't–"

"Save it," Keith cut him off sharply. "If you didn't do it on purpose, that just makes it worse." With a slight shake to his breathing, Keith abruptly gripped Lance by the waist and hoisted him onto the counter like he wasn't a fully grown man and instead merely a bag of air. He didn't even give him a chance to recover at all before he pulled up Lance's shirt that was still wet from the spilled coke, exposing his torso all the way up to his collarbone. "Bite this and shut up for a bit."

Lance had to swallow an outright moan when he heard Keith's curt tone. It was embarrassing to admit, but Lance could no longer deny that Keith bossing him around turned him on like nothing else. Hearing that commanding tone, voice just a little lower and rougher than usual, instantly made all the blood in his body rush downwards. It was almost dizzying how quickly Keith could get him going with only a few words. And so, obediently, Lance let Keith stuff his own shirt into his mouth, essentially gagging him. He was nearly shaking with anticipation now, frantically trying to figure out what Keith was going to do to him.

His questions were answered when Keith leaned down and licked a slow stripe from Lance's bellybutton up to his collarbone. Lance shuddered and flinched uncontrollably as Keith continued to explore his front, licking along the curves of his ribcage, bitting at his pectorals, hands reaching around to stroke over his lower back. A part of him wanted to shy away from Keith's touch, too embarrassed to be able to endure having something like this done to him. But another, much larger part of him was too far gone to feel shame. When Keith suddenly kissed one of his nipples, a loud, surprised moan escaped Lance. Shocked, Lance clamped a hand over his mouth, suddenly fearful the others might have heard him.

"Keep your voice down," Keith ordered quietly, stuffing Lance's shirt back into his mouth. "If anyone walks in on us, I don't think saying I'm just helping you out of your dirty clothes is gonna convince anyone."

Lance was only half listening. It had finally sunk in that Keith was standing between his legs, their groins pressing against each other in the most delicious way. Unconsciously, Lance hooked his legs around Keith's waist and began pulling him closer, pushing their clothed erections closer and eliciting a pleased groan from both of them.

With an annoyed grunt, Keith glared at Lance the moment he regained his composure. "How do you go from all shy and flustered to this so quickly?"

With the tension a little broken, Lance spat out his shirt and pulled Keith closer by the back of his neck. "Keep doing what you were just doing," he gasped out in a demanding tone.

He was met with an exasperated look from Keith, who clearly didn't know how to deal with Lance's various mood swings. Despite his apparent reluctance, Keith sighed before making Lance bite down on his shirt again and returning his lips to his chest. Having Keith's hot tongue trailing over his already feverish skin left Lance feeling like he was being set on fire, each time Keith's lips drew dangerously close to his nipples sending sparks down his spine. To his embarrassment, he could feel a slight tremor throughout his entire body. And when Keith's lips eventually did brush over his nipples, he instinctively arched away from the sensation, afraid he would make another too loud noise. Just as he opened his mouth to warn Keith, hands suddenly splayed across his shoulder blades and pulled him close, preventing him from retreating again. Without warning, Keith licked dangerously close to his nipples again, making Lance suck in a sharp, shaky breath. Biting down on his shirt as he suppressed an entire cacophony of strangled yet pleased noises, Lance began digging his fingers through Keith's now helplessly messy hair. Before he realised it, he was already rolling his hips against Keith, their hardened lengths grinding against each other in a way that made rational thought impossible. It was carnal, primal almost, the way they were rocking against each other almost entirely by instinct without exchanging a single word.

Every now and then, Lance managed to tickle a rumbling moan or breathless gasp out of Keith, especially when he pulled at his hair just right. It gave him some semblance of control over the situation, enough for him not to get completely lost in the velvety sensation of Keith's tongue on his skin. Lance almost bit through his shirt when Keith's tongue suddenly flicked over one of his nipples, sending a bolt of lightning shooting through his body. Lance could hear himself moaning wantonly, but the sound seemed foreign even to his own ears, strangely guttural and needy. By this point, Keith had teased his nipples to the point they were far more sensitive than usual. Even Keith so much as breathing on one now had Lance biting down shaky little gasps and moans. It goes without saying that when Keith began his assault in earnest by sucking one of his nipples between his lips, Lance grew almost incoherent. The wet sound of Keith lapping at his chest instantly made heat pool in Lance's gut and blood roar in his ears. His breath audibly hitched when Keith continued playing with his chest, dipping his tongue into the hollow of his collarbone, biting at his ribs and ghosting his lips over his over-sensitive nipples.

They both knew full well that Lance's nipples were a dangerous thing to mess with. Lance had absolutely no control over his reactions the moment Keith got anywhere near them, to the point they were both worried their friends in the living room would hear. And yet neither of them could stop. Keith's hot mouth would always find those tantalising nubs, while Lance was unwilling to ever push him away or tell him to back off. The more heated Keith's touch became, the more frantically their hips moved against each other. When Lance desperately pulled Keith in for a bruising kiss, hoping to regain some form of control, Keith only continued to ravage him by ruthlessly fucking his mouth with his tongue. Lance could hear every single little desperate moan that came out of Keith and combined with the friction of their hips rolling against each other, Lance was finally pushed over the edge. As his vision briefly went black, Lance could hear himself moaning some kind of mangled mix of a curse and Keith's name. Shockwaves of burning electricity rumbled through his body as he clung to Keith. Similarly, he could feel Keith going unbelievably tense in his arms, breath hitching as choked moans got stuck in his throat.

After a while of them both simply coming to a complete standstill as they gasped for air, Lance eventually lolled his head around until he could glare at Keith. "My clothes are ruined. _Again_."

"'S your own fault," Keith slurred, barely able to lift his head up enough to face Lance's mildly pissed off expression. "Don't rub yourself on my dick and expect there to be no consequences."

Lance immediately scoffed at the words. "The lightest fucking breeze could waft across your dick and you'd get horny, you bastard."

"As long as it's you blowing on my dick, sure."

With one last indignant glare, Lance pulled Keith closer again until he could hug him, arms around his head and legs around his waist. He hadn't heard Keith grinding his teeth in a few hours, which was a relief. Lance had dreaded the possibility of Keith sitting through a movie having to pretend he wasn't in pain for hours. Luckily, his worries had been unnecessary.

"We should go back," Keith eventually mumbled sleepily. Despite his words, he only nuzzled further into Lance's neck, seeming intent on staying exactly where he was.

Beginning to realise that a sleepy Keith had the tendency to revert to a toddler, Lance lightly tapped Keith on the back of the head. "I can't get down unless you let go." Lance's hold on Keith had loosened by now and the only thing really keeping him from leaving were Keith's arms around him. After letting out an incoherent little grumble, Keith reluctantly let go and gave Lance enough room to finally get down from the counter. Lance's legs were still wobbly when he stood and to his great frustration, rather than help him, Keith seemed fully content watching him struggle. "At least give me clean underwear." The moment Lance saw the evil smirk spreading on Keith's face, he regretted his words.

* * *

By the time Lance returned to the living room, nearly half an hour must have passed. That was far too long to _not_ arouse suspicion. And so the moment Lance stepped into the living room, he gulped. The movie was nearing its end, evident by the blazing fire raging throughout the entire forest and signalling some sort of climax. Hunk and Pidge were fully engrossed in the movie, barely even acknowledging Lance's return. For a moment, Lance thought he was safe. His friends didn't seem to care that him and his boyfriend had disappeared for such a suspiciously long time and Lance wasn't about to draw attention to himself either. And so he quietly made his way to the couch, hopeful he could pretend he hadn't just dry-humped Keith in the bathroom.

Lance's hopes were immediately dashed when he met Shiro's unwavering gaze. His breath got stuck in his throat and he froze on the spot, barely having made it to the couch. He tried to smile but knew it was probably awkward and stiff. It was at this moment that Shiro's expression shifted into something that instantly made Lance feel guilty, even though he hadn't done anything dramatically wrong. Something in Shiro's gaze conveyed both amusement and disappointment and Lance nearly got whiplash trying to figure out how to respond. With a curt nod, Shiro signalled for him to sit down, which Lance did obediently. He sat there stiffly, barely able to even pay attention to the movie because _how did Shiro always figure this shit out_?

Keith returned while Lance was still in the middle of having a mini breakdown. He seemed unaware of Shiro's pointed looks and nonchalantly sat down next to Lance, almost immediately letting an arm fall around Lance's shoulders. Even though they were the picture book example of two innocent boys that definitely hadn't wantonly rubbed their dicks together only minutes before, Lance couldn't relax. And for good reason. Of course Pidge would be the first to break the silence.

"Hope you guys used protection."

Two things happened. First, Lance froze. Like a deer in headlights, his body stilled and even his blood seemed to stop moving through his veins. Second, an embarrassed flush overtook his face and from there spread to his entire body. Every bit of his skin felt like it was hot with shame. Burying his burning face in his hands, Lance felt the overwhelming need to crawl into a hole and disappear. "Can't you just be like any other _normal_ person and pretend you don't know?!"

"And miss out on teasing you?" Pidge shot back instantly. "No way."

A tortured whine came out of Lance as he curled together where he sat. He could hear Keith grumbling something inaudible next to him, which piqued his interest enough to make him finally raise his head. Immediately, he found a fierce blush lighting up Keith's face; even though his head was turned away, Lance could still make out the flush dusted across his cheeks. "This is all your fault." Keith couldn't even respond because he knew Lance was right.

For the remainder of the movie, Lance was too mortified to even pay attention to what was happening on screen. Every teasing remark Pidge threw at him pushed him that much further towards committing murder. Hunk was suspiciously quiet, barely even responding to the movie despite also being easily frightened by horror. Just when Lance was considering subtly shooting him a text to ask what was up, Hunk turned towards Keith.

"Hey, Keith, mind if I use your kitchen and make some grilled cheese?"

Keith simply shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

"Thanks, man."

A little puzzled as he watched his friend walk off, Lance began to wonder whether he had perhaps imagined Hunk's odd mood. He was beginning to write it off as just his imagination, when Hunk called from the kitchen.

"Lance, mind helping me?"

"Uh…" Clueless as to how he could possibly help Hunk with anything food-related, Lance stood up regardless. "Yeah, hold on." On his way to the kitchen, all kinds of thoughts suddenly began rampaging through his mind. Had he made Hunk feel uncomfortable? Had he heard something? Was Lance about to get chewed out? His mind raced the entire way to the kitchen, where Hunk stood with his back to Lance as he examined the inside of Keith's fridge for anything useable. "Cheese is in the bottom drawer."

"Oh! Neat, thanks."

Hunk _seemed_ normal, but Lance could feel in his bones that something was wrong. Hunk wasn't usually this silent or closed off. Lance watched him slide two slices of bread into a toaster and could feel nervousness tickling his dry throat. "So… uh… what am I supposed to help with?"

"Well…"

Lance gulped, anxious Hunk was about to lecture him about not fucking his boyfriend while friends were only a few rooms away.

Slowly, Hunk set down the butter knife in his hand and turned around. His expression was grim when he met Lance's nervous gaze and immediately, the atmosphere grew thick and chilling. "I just wanted to ask you something." When Lance threw him a hesitant but expectant look, Hunk seemed to deflate a little. "Um… is there anything bothering you lately?"

"What?" Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Lance momentarily reeled for a way to answer. "I… not really?"

"Oh…" Hunk simply mumbled, gaze dropping to the floor. "If that's true, that would be great. It's just that…" Hunk began absent-mindedly fiddling with the zipper of his jacket, cloudy gaze off to the side. "You've been getting weird texts recently, right?"

"That…!" Lance's tone was accusatory right away, but he knew immediately that Hunk wasn't the type of guy to snoop through his things. "Why do you think that?"

"It's not that hard to figure out, Lance." Hunk sighed, shoulders visibly sagging. "You can only watch someone stare at their phone with this terrified look so many times before you start putting two and two together. And you've been real jumpy lately. It's like you're constantly afraid someone's gonna jump you." When Lance didn't reply, instead opting to keep his head down and hide his face, Hunk let out another frustrated sigh. "What's going on?"

"It's not a big deal," Lance bit back, voice quiet yet not belying his irritation. He wasn't so much angry at Hunk, more at the situation itself. "Nothing has happened."

" _Yet_!"

It was Lance's turn to sigh, his expression growing increasingly exasperated. "I'm serious."

"So am I," Hunk immediately retorted. "Haven't you noticed someone's been leaving snacks hanging on our front door?"

A cold shudder instantly rushed down Lance's entire body. Suddenly, his lungs felt too small and his head too noisy. "Wha… No, I thought that was you!"

"And I thought that was _you_!"

Seeing Hunk's panicked expression, the gravity of the situation finally dawned on Lance. For the past few weeks, he had come home several times to find a plastic bag filled with various snacks hanging on the door handle of his front door. Small bags of chips, dried fruits, candy, all things Lance liked to eat. Of course he had assumed Hunk had bought those. Who else would know his exact preferences in snacks? "What makes you think it's related?"

Hunk seemed hesitant to answer the question, but eventually conceded. "There was a note yesterday." He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and threw it onto the counter for Lance to see.

Lance didn't even want to pick the paper up to read it, opting instead to cross his arms, then turn and tilt his head until he could make out the letters. _'Come home more often. I want to give these to you in person.'_ The message immediately sent a cold shiver down Lance's spine. The tone of it for sure read a lot like the texts and emails he was getting on a daily basis.

"Lance, if any of those snacks had been poisoned…" Hunk drifted off, as though unable to finish the sentence. "We should probably go to a hospital tomorrow, just in case." With a dark expression on his usually joyful face, Hunk suddenly grabbed the note from the table, crumpled it in his hand, then tossed it into a nearby bin. "You understand what I'm getting at now, right? It's only a matter of time before something happens."

"Yeah, I get it," Lance sighed, his voice void of energy. There was no way around acknowledging that he had a stalker. This was beyond a prank. Whoever was doing this knew his address as well as his snack preferences. Was it possible for a complete stranger to figure all of that out? Lance had a hard time imagining that someone he knew would do something like this to him. The other possibility, his stalker being someone he had never even met, was equally horrifying.

"Are you gonna tell Keith?" Hunk eventually broke the sombre silence.

Lance didn't have to think long before answering. "He'd just blame himself and distance himself from me or some shit. And he got a lot of shit for punching Lotor at that party, so he's been pretty stressed. More than usual, at least. I don't wanna pile more stress on top of that."

"I'll take that as a 'no,'" Hunk murmured solemnly, before directing an imploring look at Lance. "At least go to the police. Tell other people. _Anything_. You can't just let this go on like this."

Feeling his hands begin to shake a little, Lance nodded weakly. "Yeah. You're right." For a moment, he stared down at the neatly tiled floor. As usual, he was amazed at Hunk's ability to figure him out no matter how much he tried to hide. The guy had an eery ability to sniff out things people were trying to hide, especially when it came to emotions. "It's not just me that's in danger after all."

"Wait… is this person threatening Keith or something?"

Words suddenly stuck in his throat, Lance could only nod. The threats had been very indirect, rarely mentioning Keith by name and never actually outright threatening him. But the tone still made it clear this stalker did not like Keith and liked Lance being with him even less. "I'm scared Keith will do something if he finds out and get himself in trouble." Seeing Hunk's reaction only made his own words sink in further. Lance was afraid not just of this stalker, but also of how far Keith could go to protect him. Every single time he had seen Keith lash out at someone, it had been over them insulting Lance in some way. If Keith could so easily attack someone for throwing a rude little remark at Lance, what would happen if he were to actually find this stalker?

Although Hunk still didn't look fully convinced, he finally seemed to relax a little. "I guess I can see why you don't want to tell Keith." The regret over his own words was evident on his face. "I still don't think you should keep this from him. He's going to find out eventually, so it's better he hears it from you than from anywhere else. And this might be a scummy thing to say, but Keith has the resources to help you. _Use_ them."

Hunk's words made sense. They made complete sense and Lance knew that he should probably tell Keith. It was for the better. And yet, he didn't think he had the courage to actually go through with it. Something in his mind told him it was a bad idea, that nothing good could possibly come of it. Strangely, the voice in his head sounded like the stalker's messages. "Let's make that grilled cheese and go back."

Luckily, Hunk didn't object and silently went about making food. He didn't ask for Lance's help even once, instead staying silent and occasionally throwing him those concerned looks. When Hunk eventually finished the grilled cheese, enough for everyone, Lance accompanied him back to the living room. He tried his best not to let anything show on his face, but knew he was probably letting some of his apprehension show through. Luckily, the semi-darkness in the room hid his face somewhat. The moment Lance sat back down next to his boyfriend, Keith pulled him closer until he was nestled firmly in his side. Keith seemed too focused on the movie to ask why he and Hunk had been gone for so long, which Lance was grateful for. With Keith so close, his warmth and scent wrapping around Lance like a blanket, it was impossible _not_ to relax. When only the protagonist of the movie was left alive, Lance knew it would end soon. Perhaps he could charm Keith into next picking a movie that wasn't riddled with murder and demons.

"Hey…"

Suddenly having Keith's husky voice in his ear made Lance let out a startled gasp, immediately followed by a sharp intake of air when he could feel lips against the shell of his ear. "Wh-What?"

Keith took his time answering, very intentionally letting his hot breath wash over Lance's neck. "Have you ever gotten a piercing?"

Lance wanted to swat Keith away like an annoying fly, but something in his voice made him freeze up completely. Unable to get his voice to work, Lance could only shake his head.

Keith's arm, which had been around Lance's shoulder, slowly began to move. At first, it seemed like the conversation was over, with Keith simply stroking Lance's arm. But then his hand moved to Lance's shoulder, staying there only briefly before wandering down his towards his chest. By the time Lance realised what was going on, Keith already had his fingertips ghosting over one of his nipples.

When Keith finally spoke again, there was a heated edge to his voice. "Maybe you should get one." 

The other people in the room pretended not to hear Lance's tortured whine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to split this chapter yet again. Second part just kept getting longer and longer, so I decided to just make it its own chapter. Hopefully it's not too short! I was going to upload this last week but it honestly just completely slipped my mind, whoops. I'd finally uploaded the first chapter of my Diamond no Ace fic the week before and somehow I forgot I have other stuff to upload. 
> 
> After this I only have two more chapters drafted out and I still haven't finished drafting the final chapter cause I've been spending almost all of my writing time on my DnA fic. I'll probably upload the next chapter within a month, as usual, but after that I'm not so sure. I'm so close to the end, so it's kinda frustrating I can't seem to get this one chapter done. 
> 
> Either way, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Would love to hear your thoughts, especially cause it's probably one of my favourite ones.


	11. VIII-iv-i

Lance could almost _feel_ Keith radiating anger the entire car ride. Shiro was used to these tantrums and simply focused on the road, not paying any mind to the dark atmosphere clouding the car. "It's not that deep, Keith," Lance murmured exasperatedly. "It was just a harmless teenage crush."

Keith was unbelievably close to actually _pouting_ by this point, arms crossed and furious glare firmly on the scenery passing by outside. "What made you change your mind?"

"She's totally out of my league? I don't know, crushes like that don't really last." Keith still looked furious, which almost made Lance laugh; the guy had absolutely no chill. "She's a celebrity, you know. It's not like I could ever… Oh…"

When realisation hit Lance, Keith finally whipped around to silently direct his rage at his boyfriend.

"Why are _you_ mad anyway!" Lance finally exploded. " _You're_ the one who dated her! Do you have any idea how _I_ feel? I can't even decide if I should be jealous of her or you!"

"You didn't have to come along!" Keith barked back, voice thundering through the car.

"But I wanna laugh at your ham acting live!"

"Shithead!"

Lance finally broke out into giggles that had been itching to burst out ever since Keith had begun to so childishly refuse to look his way. All Lance had said was that he liked Allura's fashion sense. That comment alone had set Keith off enough to start fuming like an upset toddler. Naturally, Lance's laughter didn't at all ease the genuine rage still burning in Keith's eyes. Truthfully, Lance actually wanted to watch over and support Keith while he began filming for this mini series. And so the moment he had heard that filming would start, he had called up Shiro and asked to come along without telling Keith. As unbothered and confident as Keith always seemed, Lance could tell he was nervous about filming for this thing. Keith hadn't told him why exactly; perhaps it was the famous director, the quite impressive production budget, or the fact that he was working with Allura. Something was making Keith anxious.

No attempt at lightening Keith's mood succeeded, so the rest of the ride went by in relative silence. At least until an idea hit Lance. When Lance turned Keith, he luckily found him a lot less angry looking. "Hey, you think I can write an article about today?"

"Uh…" Keith seemed completely taken aback by the question, prompting Shiro to answer instead.

"I can ask for you when we get there," he suggested with an encouraging smile. "It's pretty short notice but they already know you're coming, so maybe they were expecting you to write something anyway."

"Awesome, thanks." Lance had gotten countless offers over the past months to write for various outlets, mostly those dealing with celebrity news. It was only natural. A journalist dating a pop-star had to be a prime source for gossip about the entire industry. Considering how busy he was with his internship at the aquarium, Lance had turned down all offers except for those that seemed to genuinely care for his work outside of him being Keith's boyfriend. Overall, he was far better off with his writing now than he had been before the dating news about him and Keith had broken. He wasn't earning a fortune, but it was enough to pay rent and put food on the table and for now, that was enough. 

Soon enough, silence reigned over the car once again and Lance couldn't stop himself from getting drowsy. He never truly fell asleep, but the ride still went by in a blur. Even when Shiro parked the car and Lance begrudgingly followed the other two outside into the too bright sunlight, he still felt half asleep. On the way to the set, Lance soon noticed the many blocked roads and the lack of pedestrians. Eventually, he could see large blue screens towering in the distance and for the first time, he could somewhat understand why Keith was nervous. This was shaping up to be a pretty big production, something far more elaborate than anything Keith had ever acted in before.

What felt like a group of over thirty people soon came into sight, all scattered around the set and busy with one thing or another. Smaller groups were standing around equipment, others were setting up parts of the set, while a few people were simply standing and surveying things, occasionally giving out suggestions and orders. It was far more involved and much more complicated than the ad shoot Lance had visited before. The atmosphere sent an odd tingle down his spine and he wasn't sure if it was out of excitement or uneasiness.

"Ah, Keith!" a bear-like man exclaimed happily, running up to the trio while hastily ending a call and putting his phone away, only to envelope one of Keith's hands in both of his massive ones. "Good to see you. And you too, Shiro! And this is… Lance, correct? I'm Gyrgan."

Hearing the name, Lance realised with a start that this was the director of the movie and hastily held out his hand for him to shake. "Y-Yeah. Hi." This guy was a fairly famous director; famous enough, in fact, that his name was easily recognisable even for the average person. It was only natural that Lance was shaking a little in front of someone like that. Gyrgan then went on to chat with Keith about filming and it took Lance a full minute to remember that Keith was famous too. Far more famous than Gyrgan, actually.

Just when Lance felt relatively normal again, able to stand next to Keith without coming off like a nervous wreck, bell-like laughter began to fill the air and almost robbed him of his breath. Eyes wide, he slowly turned towards the source of that angelic sound. His heart was already racing when he caught sight of the woman that had kickstarted his sexual awakening as a teenager. "Oh my god, that's Allura."

"Don't embarrass yourself," Keith grumbled dryly, not even gracing the object of Lance's awe with a single glance. Gyrgan had left, leaving Keith flipping through a copy of his script for the day.

Too occupied with watching Allura's every goddess-like move, Keith's derisive words never even reached Lance's ears. He was too busy admiring his once celebrity crush from afar. "She's so much hotter in real life."

"I'm right here, you know."

"You have no right to complain," Lance bit back, suddenly fully aware of Keith. "You dated her." 

" _Dated_. Past tense. And it wasn't even that serious of a relationship. I'd hardly call what we did dating." Although on the surface Keith sounded pissed off, he seemed to realise that Lance was partially teasing. There was no real anger in his eyes. "You, on the other hand, are thirsting over her _right now_."

"I can't?"

"The rocket is about ready. When do you want me to strap it to your back and launch you into space?"

Lance chuckled at the deadpan threat and proceeded to suggestively wiggle his eyebrows at his boyfriend. "I didn't know you were into tying people up. Kinky." When he was met with an even drier expression in response, he couldn't suppress a burst of amused laughter. "Okay, okay, I'll stop. Sorry." As an apology, he pressed a small peck to Keith's lips and watched some of the annoyed edge leaving his face. "Where's Shiro, by the way? Wasn't he just here?"

"Probably flirting with Adam," Keith grumbled.

"Adam?"

"Allura's stylist." A sightly exasperated sigh left Keith. "Shiro sticks to me like glue only until Adam shows up. Then he just vanishes into thin air."

"Wow." Lance was about to ask Keith more about Shiro's obsession with this Adam fellow, when his phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. What used to be a harmless alert was now a harbinger of dread. Each message lighting up his phone had his heart rate pick up, ice-cold dread washing all over his body. After some hesitation, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and tried to will his body into relaxing. Any momentary calm only lasted until he saw the message staring back at him from his cracked display.

_"Don't stick to that fucker like that. Not like he's gonna pay attention to you anyway."_

Lance could easily imagine who 'that fucker' was supposed to be. Just as he made to put his phone away and ignore the message as usual, another one popped up.

_"There's a surprise waiting for you at home."_

Lance's blood ran cold reading the words. The conversation with Hunk came back to him and although this probably was the moment he should tell Keith what was going on, he still couldn't bring himself to; not when Keith was about to film for something this major. He couldn't afford to distract him with his problems.

"Lance?"

Nearly jumping out of his skin at the sudden hand on his arm, Lance found Keith staring back at him with concern. "What?"

"You…" Keith trailed off and seemed to consider his words for a moment. As though he wanted to ask something but didn't know how. "You okay? You suddenly went all quiet."

"Oh… I'm fine." Lance managed to pull off a smile he thought would be convincing enough, but Keith still stared at him intently; as though he was dissecting him with his eyes.

When no other response came from Lance, Keith seemed to deflate a little. "Well, my first scene is coming up, so I need to get to wardrobe and make-up and get ready. Shiro should be back soon, so just stick to him."

"I'm not gonna get lost or anything." Lance chuckled, but was silenced by Keith suddenly leaning in to kiss him. It was sweet and chaste, exactly what Lance's frayed nerves needed. He almost sighed in relief and had to resist the temptation to simply steal Keith away and huddle away with him in some corner to spend the rest of the day all tangled up in each other.

"Don't laugh when I start," Keith murmured, before pulling away and walking off with a half-smirk.

It took Lance a moment to snap out of his pleasant daze, but he soon noticed the various pairs of eyes directed at him. It was perfectly normal to him by now, but perhaps seeing Keith kiss a guy was still an odd sight to see for other people. He did catch quite a few excited glances, so at the very least, the attention wasn't all negative.

True to Keith's word, a slightly out of breath and giddy-looking Shiro soon appeared. The moment he sat down, Lance proceeded to ruthlessly tease him about flirting at work, eventually earning him a light smack in the arm. Even that little tap hurt like he had been hit with a rock, so Lance decided then and there to never tease Shiro again. For a while, Keith and Allura simply discussed the scene with the director. As he waited, Lance began browsing the news on his phone, skipping over the majority of headlines. One eventually caught his eye when a certain name jumped out at him. "Ranveig," he mumbled to himself. Lance knew him because Keith used to be signed under Ranveig's company. The bad vibes he had always given Lance seemed to have been correct, because the article detailed accusations from an actress that he had sexually assaulted her. Lance wasn't at all surprised, but it did make him wonder if Keith had gone through any incidents with the guy while working in his company.

Lance's attention was then directed back to what was happening in front of him when the cameras finally began to roll. Allura was immersed in her role instantly, her entire demeanour and atmosphere changing from regal and elegant to something much less polished and more approachable. From what little Lance had been allowed to see of the script, she was already embodying her character quite well. Keith, on the other hand, was struggling. Although Gyrgan patiently asked him for different takes with varying interpretations, Keith couldn't seem to find his footing. His acting wasn't bad, but apparently something simply wasn't clicking just yet. Even worse, Lance could see in his face that he was getting frustrated with himself.

"He's usually like this at the start," Shiro suddenly explained, not even turning to look at Lance and simply keeping his unperturbed gaze on Keith. "Give him some time. He'll figure it out and then he'll do just fine."

Lance briefly regarded Shiro with a pondering look, wondering how he could stay so calm, and eventually directed his attention towards Keith again. "Yeah, probably." There wasn't much he could do to help Keith either way. He had done his best to help him prepare, had practiced his lines with him, helped him get immersed in the character. The rest was up to Keith now.

True to Shiro's words, it took some time and more discussions with Gyrgan, but eventually Keith seemed to find his rhythm. Eventually, he delivered his lines without much direction from Gyrgan, who simply sat back and only occasionally interjected. At first, Lance felt like a proud parent watching his child succeeding. But as he watched Keith's chemistry with Allura improving as Keith got immersed in his character, Lance could feel a nostalgically dark feeling crawling its way into his heart. After ending things with Nyma, Lance had sworn to never get that jealous and obsessive again. He was fully aware of how insecure he was and of how much Keith truly cared for him. And yet, seeing Keith with Allura like this, Lance couldn't help but think that they looked good together. The legendary pop-star and the award-winning actress. It seemed like a match made in heaven.

"Lance?"

Only when Shiro's voice tore Lance out of his musings did he realise that he had been glaring. "What?"

Shiro still seemed a little bewildered, but quickly covered it up with a friendly smile. "You okay?"

Lance didn't know how to answer at first. Should he be honest or should he lie? In the end, as was only natural for him, he chose a mix of both: saying the truth but in a joking manner to downplay the true depth of his feelings. "I'm super pissed."

Seemingly unaware of Lance's attempt at covering up his feelings, Shiro chuckled. "Why are you pissed off?"

An overdramatic sigh left Lance as he crossed his arms and let his head fall backwards. "How can I not be?" he groaned, before suddenly sitting upright and pointing an accusing finger at his boyfriend and his teen crush. "Look at them! They're so hot together! Who am I even supposed to focus on?"

Shiro broke out into more quiet chuckles and regarded Lance with a knowing look. "However jealous you are, Keith's probably way more jealous that you had a crush on Allura at some point."

"I'm not–!" Even looking at Shiro for only second let Lance know that trying to deny his words would be of no use. "Well Keith actually dated her, so…" He sank into his chair for a moment, then crossed his arms moodily. "What's up with that anyway?"

Shiro was silent for only a brief moment, his voice oddly flat when he responded. "You really want me to tell you?"

"Not like Keith ever would."

"Hm…" Momentarily letting the words go through his head, Shiro eventually shrugged. "Well, let's just say they were supposed to be in a project together and you know… _get friendly_ with each other. But the project fell through, so not much happened. At least publicly."

Knowing what he knew now about this industry, Lance could easily read between the lines. Evidently, someone somewhere had wanted Allura and Keith to date publicly and help promote whatever they were supposed to be in together. For them to co-star in a new project like this mini-drama after that sort of thing almost seemed like fate. "There must've been something real between them though." Lance's usual smile was gone, replaced by a neutral mask that hid his true thoughts for the most part. "Otherwise her current boyfriend wouldn't bring it up in an argument like that."

Shiro regarded him with a thoughtful look, before shooting him a brief, reassuring smile. "Well… you saw how Lotor is. He likes to mess with peoples' heads. Don't pay what he says too much mind." When his attempt at easing Lance's mind seemed ineffective, Shiro sighed. "Look, just ask Keith. I doubt he'd keep what happened a secret if he knew you're worrying about it this much."

"You think?" Lance questioned, doubt heavily tinging his tone. 

"He's weak to earnestness, you know. If you choose your words right, he won't be able to deny you anything."

Still doubtful, Lance decided to simply take the advice to heart. There wasn't much else he could do, after all. "I'll keep it in mind. Thanks."

"No problem!" Shiro shot back with a bright smile.

If Shiro's words were true, it was no wonder he could so easily handle Keith. Shiro didn't have anything to hide so he could always be fully honest and earnest with Keith. Lance, on the other hand, rarely had the heart to share his troubles with Keith. He kept a large chunk of his true emotions and thoughts hidden deep within himself. His relationship with Keith was beginning to look as though there would never be any sense of stability as long as they both refused to be honest with each other.

The solution was obvious, but clearly, it was easier said than done.

* * *

By the time the sun was at its highest point in the sky, Lance was struggling not to come off hostile towards anyone that needlessly touched Keith. More than once he had caught make-up artists and stylists casually copping a feel of him while touching his face up and although Keith seemed used to it, Lance could feel that familiar creeping jealousy slowly bubble up from his gut and infect him from the inside out. Anger simmering in his chest, he watched yet another random girl touching Keith's arm while fixing his hair. It was a seemingly innocent touch, but Lance couldn't help but want to rip her hand off.

"When does this end?" Lance eventually grumbled, impatiently tapping his foot.

Shiro briefly regarded Lance with a side glance before answering. "Well, recording only started two hours ago, so… about ten more hours? Only if everything goes smoothly though, otherwise we might stay another two or three hours."

"Shit, really?" Genuinely caught off guard by the long work hours, Lance momentarily forgot about his burning jealousy. "Is that normal?"

"Well… yes." Clearly, Shiro had become fully adjusted to these sort of long work days. He wasn't fazed at all. "You saw it during the ad shoot. Most of your time at these things is spent waiting for things to get set up. Keith used to get pretty cranky after around eight hours, but he's mellowed out lately. Especially once he started meeting you last year."

Embarrassed when he saw Shiro's grateful smile, Lance averted his eyes. Naturally, his gaze moved towards Keith, who was holding a small pile of papers – most likely his script for the upcoming scene. What made Lance sit up a little straighter was Keith's downright scornful glare. And it was directed Lance. Or the person next to him. It was difficult to tell at this distance. "Is he…?"

"He's glaring at _me_ ," Shiro explained nonchalantly. "He can't stand it when I talk to you."

"What? Why?"

Shiro suddenly laughed to himself, as though recalling an amusing memory. "He's been like that since he was little. He never liked when you got close to other people, Lance. You never noticed?"

"Not really, no." Lance shrugged and for a moment tried to recall his early memories of Keith. "All I remember from when we were kids is him always being mad at me for no reason and hitting me for the dumbest shit."

"Exactly."

Bewildered, Lance shot a disbelieving look at the manager. "Are you serious? Are you trying to tell me Keith is one of those dumb _'I bully you cause I like you'_ types? He can't be, you're messing with me."

For a while, Shiro actually contemplated his answer. "Well… I'm pretty sure he also thought you were just… uh… a little _vexing_ in general."

"But Keith finds everyone annoying. Always has."

"True."

The moment a long-awaited break finally rolled around, Lance was met with the sight of Keith instantly making a beeline for him with an intimidating scowl on his face. The guy looked like the Terminator out to take down his target.

Keith arrived in a flurry of wild hair and flushed skin, his carefully maintained appearance for the camera destroyed within seconds. "Lance!"

"Yes?!" Lance instinctively responded, mildly freaked out by the intensity oozing out of every single pore on Keith's body. Especially with him in a chair and Keith towering over him like this, he could feel goosebumps rising all over his body.

Instead of responding, Keith suddenly looked conflicted. For a moment, his uncertain gaze snapped to Shiro, who merely glanced back innocently. "What were you guys talking about?"

"You," Lance instantly answered, relishing in the indignation that immediately took over Keith's entire overdramatic being. "And about how easily you get jealous."

That shut Keith up real quick. His already opened mouth snapped shut and he only seemed to get more agitated seeing Lance's mockingly innocent expression. "I hate both of you."

Unable to suppress a triumphant grin, Lance pulled Keith down by his collar until he could press a chaste kiss to his lips. Truthfully, it was difficult not to simply drag Keith off somewhere and have his way with him, but having this many eyes on their every move definitely helped keep them both in check. Or at least it was supposed to. When their lips separated, Keith dipped back in for another kiss, this one a little deeper, more passionate. It was approaching a level that was probably not suitable for a public setting, especially when Keith possessively slid a hand around Lance's neck.

"Guys!"

Shiro's voice finally made Lance let go of Keith's collar in shock and pull away. "Uuh…" Lance sheepishly looked up at Keith and knew instantly that he had no intention to stop. His dark eyes were alight with desire, burning through Lance and nearly setting his last string of reason on fire. Keith truly did not care who saw them kiss. "I'm thirsty!" Lance suddenly yelped when Keith began closing in again. Only now did he notice that Keith was leaning into him with both his arms on the arms of Lance's chair, effectively trapping him with his body. "Craft services is past that big black truck, right?"

Clearly miffed at being denied more kisses, Keith coldly stared down at Lance without moving an inch. "I have something to drink right here, you know."

"Noooo, that's for you!" Lance insisted desperately, already trying to weasel his way out out of Keith's arms. "Enjoy your water. I'll be right back!" Finally, Lance managed to free himself and immediately sprinted away before Keith could even consider the idea of dragging him off somewhere. Lance knew that look Keith had given him. It meant that things were about to get very unchristian.

Lance hadn't lied about being thirsty, so he ended up at craft services gulping down half a bottle of water, before digging into some of the baked goods and fruits. He had already gotten somewhat used to the sometimes hectic, sometimes painfully slow atmosphere of a film set. And so the two women popping out of nowhere and hastily rushing past him didn't phase him much, nor did the random man snoring in a chair nearby. Lance was in the middle of enjoying a particularly juicy slice of watermelon, about to wipe away the juice that had dribbled down his chin, when someone suddenly appeared next to him. The moment he saw who it was, he froze in place as his heart nearly thundered out of his chest.

"Oh, hello. You're Lance, correct?"

 _Holy shit, Allura is talking to me!_ Already, Lance's legs felt like mush and his mind had gone completely blank except for thoughts of how he would remember the way Allura said his name with that graceful accent of hers for the rest of his life. Then he remembered seeing her with Keith and suddenly his excitement was completely overshadowed by the dark feelings that began to seep into his every thought.

Allura didn't seem to mind that Lance wasn't replying and staring at her owlishly. She simply offered a friendly smile. "You look like you want to ask something."

Finally snapping out of his stupor, Lance sheepishly shook his head and finally wiped the watermelon juice off his chin. "N-No, not really."

Smile widening minutely, a somewhat unreadable look came over Allura's face. "You've probably heard the story by now." Here words were straightforward enough that it was immediately obvious what she was talking about. So seeing the hesitant curiosity in Lance's eyes, she continued. "When I started working with Keith on that project, I became curious about him. As you know, he's quite peculiar." Her lips briefly quirked up with amusement. "It was an open secret in the industry that working with Keith would lead to dating rumors, regardless of whether they were true or not. That was how his management operated and he didn't seem to mind. I've turned down offers for me to go on dates for publicity, but Keith was known to never turn anyone down."

 _So he did have a choice?_ Lance had gotten that impression before, but Keith had never seemed too upset about having to date anyone for publicity. From the few times they had talked about it, it had seemed like no more than a minor inconvenience to him.

"You know, when I was told the project got cancelled and that I didn't need to date Keith anymore, truthfully, I was a little disappointed. Keith seems like an enigma until you talk to him. He is the type to let you in layer by layer and every time we met, it felt like I was seeing more and more of those layers."

Lance unknowingly clenched his fist at the realisation that he wasn't the only one to notice these little things about Keith. It was only natural for other people to be close to him and to get to know his quirks and oddities, but it was still disheartening to hear.

As she talked, Allura began piling various food items onto a plate. "So after the project was cancelled, I asked him to date me. Not for publicity or anything, just as two people interested in each other."

Hearing the words confirmed some of Lance's suspicions. As he could feel his chest tighten with an indescribable feeling, he lowered his head slightly to hide his face. He could only hope that he didn't look as horrified as he felt.

Once she deemed her plate of food satisfactory, Allura began picking out eating utensils. "He didn't say 'No.' After all, Keith is fatally weak to people that honestly and boldly tell him their feelings. So we went on a few dates. We were both busy, so we didn't see much of each other. Eventually, we decided to cut ties because neither of us could make time for the other."

It was almost exactly the story that was usually printed in articles about celebrity couples that had broken up, which immediately made Lance doubt the validity of those words.

"It wasn't anything dramatic," Allura continued, piling a few more small fruits onto her plate. "We simply decided that a relationship wouldn't be possible." She went silent for a moment as she took a bite out of a large strawberry, her expression contemplative. "Having dated him, I always thought that Keith wasn't the type to be romantic or overly invested in anyone. He certainly never was when he was with me." Her expression suddenly lightened up into a genuine smile as she looked at Lance directly. "But I suppose there are always exceptions."

Lance could feel his face heat up when faced with that kind of radiant smile alongside such obviously encouraging words. Truthfully, he wasn't sure whether he should be worried about Allura still having feelings for Keith. In any case, he couldn't even be truly mad at her since he was still a huge fan of her. And she was pretty. "Why are you telling me all this?"

Allura shrugged as she popped a small grape into her mouth. "You looked like you needed to hear it." Allura finally turned to leave with one last dazzling smile, then walked off with her brilliant snow-white hair elegantly swaying around her beautiful frame. If Lance didn't know better, he would think Keith was completely void of sexual or romantic feelings to not jump at the chance to forever be with this woman. More than ever before, Lance couldn't quite figure out why Keith had chosen him out of all people to date. It simply made no sense.

Still royally shaken after talking to Allura, Lance returned to Shiro's side right when the crew was done setting up for the next scene.

"Prepare yourself," Shiro suddenly warned, expression serious as he met Lance's curious gaze.

"For what?"

Shiro nodded towards where Keith was standing with Allura and the director. "They're about to shoot the first kiss scene."

"Oh no."

* * *

The ride home from the shoot was quiet and solemn. Keith was half-asleep, Lance just barely holding on as well. The recording of the kiss scene was fresh in Lance's mind, the various takes replaying in his head constantly on a loop. Having cameras and a crew, as well as a director shouting out somewhat clinical orders to improve the kiss for the camera, had all helped to lessen the shock factor of seeing his boyfriend kiss someone else. Still, Lance couldn't stop himself from wondering. Even with both Shiro and Allura explaining their sides of the story, without Keith chiming in as well, there would be no end to these agonising thoughts.

"Did you ever have real feelings for Allura?" Lance suddenly asked, gaze staying on the scenery going by outside the car.

The sound of Keith shuffling around abruptly broke the brief silence that had lingered. "You talked to her?" When Lance simply nodded without a word, a long sigh left Keith. "I don't know," he admitted quietly, tone dark. "She seemed alright and I wanted to give dating a try. _Real_ dating, you know. That's why I said yes when she asked me out." He seemed to stumble over his words for a moment, a frustrated little noise coming out of him. "I liked being with Allura but I don't think that was enough for her. She probably noticed I wasn't super invested in the whole dating thing, so I don't blame her for breaking up with me."

 _'So they didn't mutually break up like Allura said?'_ Talking to Allura, Lance had felt as though she was sugarcoating things a little too much. It was no surprise that things hadn't been as amicable as she had made them out to be. "Do you think she still likes you?"

Keith was silent for a long time and after a while, it seemed as though he would never answer. Eventually, there was a small thump, as though he had bumped his head into something. "I don't really think about it."

"Is that why you didn't tell me?" Lance immediately questioned, a little upset that Keith could apparently dismiss a relationship so easily. Regardless of how invested he had been, Keith had still dated Allura.

A frustrated huff left Keith. "As far as I'm concerned, the thing with Allura wasn't important enough to bring up. We went on a few dates and that's it. If you wanna call that a relationship, go ahead. But if I compare that to what I have with you it just doesn't…"

"So you were fuck buddies." Lance finally turned to look at Keith and found him staring back at him with wide, shocked eyes. "You slept with her. But you didn't see her as your girlfriend."

"Why do you sound mad?" Keith asked in completely disbelief.

"Cause I am! You're an asshole!" Lance's angered voice exploded through the car, surprising even himself. "Do you have any idea how many people would actually _murder_ someone just for the chance to talk to Allura!? Meanwhile you were using her like a convenient booty call!? Are you actually insane!?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you _want_ me to date her?"

"What the fuck is wrong with _you_? How can you _not_ want to date her? Have you _seen_ her?"

Keith suddenly became eerily calm, expression going completely deadpan as he spoke. "She genuinely believes she can talk to animals. And she walks too slow."

Taken aback by the sudden change in tone, Lance struggled to answer. "Th-that sounds like something you could live wi–"

"She's actually batshit," Keith continued, merciless in his attempt to disillusion his boyfriend. "I found her one morning elbow-deep in the soil of this big houseplant on her balcony. She said that petting the roots is how she shows her plants her undying love." 

Lance hesitated. He let the words sink in and when they did, the angry tension completely left his body. "Okay, fine. I get it."

After a short silence, Keith shot Lance a curious look. "We good?"

"Yeah," Lance mumbled, suddenly exhausted.

With his dark mood that had persisted nearly the entire day finally dissolved, Lance soon ended up half asleep. By the time he realised, he was resting on Keith's shoulder, while he and Shiro chatted about this and that. Somewhat clumsily, body already heavy with sleep, Lance grasped Keith's hand and pulled it towards himself. It ended up resting on his thigh, where it stayed without moving an inch, its warmth and weight comforting. Before he became completely lost to the world of slumber, Lance managed to mumble a few words.

"You're… way hotter than Allura… by the way."

Keith's surprised laughter was the last thing Lance heard before he finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was honestly torture to write. It took a long time because somehow I could never write more than a handful of sentences at a time. Inspiration just never quite hit. Hopefully it's not awkward to read or anything.
> 
> Some good news though: I'm finally managing to somehow struggle my way through writing the ending! This was a short chapter, but the next ones are probably gonna be longer again, now that I don't have to worry about running out of drafts anymore. 
> 
> Everyone's comments about this whole thing have been so nice and encouraging, by the way. I'm really grateful that so many awesome people read my work :D


	12. I - IV7

Lance was prepared for it, but hearing Pidge's shrill yelling echo through the college cafeteria still made him feel like he was being assaulted by an airhorn.

"Your stalker left food _inside_ your apartment?!" Pidge looked equal parts livid and horrified, incredulous eyes jumping back and forth between both Lance and Hunk. "Did you call the police?"

"Of course we did," Hunk murmured, shoulders sagging. "There was no trace of someone breaking in and nothing was stolen or destroyed, so there wasn't anything they could do."

Seeing how defeated and tired Lance and Hunk both looked, Pidge's face immediately fell. "And you guys can't stay anywhere else for a while?"

With a sigh, Lance began counting on his fingers. "Let's see… you still live at home, Pidge, our families live too far away, and our other friends can't really shelter us for longer than a night or two."

"What about Keith?" Pidge's question clearly hit a nerve because Lance immediately flinched and Hunk suddenly perked up.

Clearly annoyed, Hunk sent a pointed glare at Lance as he spoke up. "Staying with Keith would require actually _telling him what's going on_!"

"You _still_ haven't told him?!" Pidge screeched.

Face in his hands now, Lance let out a long, tortured groan. "I tried yesterday but he was filming and I didn't wanna distract him." He didn't have to look up to see the judging looks of his friends. "I just can't find the right moment to tell him."

"You realise there's _never_ gonna be a 'right moment,' right?" Pidge chimed in, tone uncharacteristically severe. "If Keith works as much as you say, then no matter when you tell him, it's gonna affect his work."

When Lance let out a frustrated sigh at the words, Hunk spoke up as well. "I know it sucks, but you have to tell him. The longer you draw this out, the more upset he'll be when he finds out. He might be able to help somehow, you know."

"That's _exactly_ what I don't want," Lance immediately countered. "I just _know_ he's gonna drop everything and try to hunt this stalker down the second I tell him about everything. He'll totally go all tunnel-vision on me and stop caring about anything else."

Naturally, Pidge had to pipe up once again. "Maybe find a boyfriend who isn't a _fucking psycho_!"

"Yeah, too late," Lance grumbled.

During the brief lull in their conversation, all three began to eat solemnly, thoughts running in circles still trying to process the situation. The silence didn't last long, because eventually a thought seemed to hit Pidge.

"You said nothing was stolen, right?"

Wary of Pidge's inquisitive tone, Lance slowly nodded. "Not like we have anything all that valuable anyway, but it didn't seem like whoever broke in even checked. If the table hadn't been set with dinner and everything, we wouldn't even have known that anyone broke in at all."

Expression growing more and more grave, Pidge began leaning closer to the other two across the table. "What if instead of something being taken, something was put into your apartment?"

"What do you–?" Hunk's expression morphed into one of shock when realisation hit. "You mean our apartment could've been bugged?"

Pidge nodded with an increasingly pained expression. "Considering how much this stalker keeps tabs on Lance, it would make sense. This person already knows your address and somehow knows your every move, Lance. Of course the next step would be to keep track of you even when you're home."

Lance could feel his legs beginning to tremble, fear quickly crawling into his mind and tainting his every thought. He knew things were escalating rapidly and yet the police couldn't step in. So far, there was nothing to warrant action on their part, so all Lance could do was spend every day hoping nothing would happen.

"Lance?"

Startled out of his spiralling thoughts, Lance looked up to find both Hunk and Pidge shooting him concerned glances. "I'm fine," he murmured shakily, sounding anything _but_ fine even to his own ears. "I'll tell him soon." He caught his friends exchanging glances but didn't think too hard on what they were silently communicating.

His mind was too busy desperately coming up with ways to break the news to Keith without making him freak out.

* * *

Whenever he was in Keith's house, Lance felt out of place. Although the house belonged to Keith and he technically lived in it, the interior and sheer size of it was so at odds with Keith as a person that it never truly felt like his home. Lance could much easier picture him in some rickety shack far away from the rest of humanity, rather than such a lavish, meticulously designed mansion. Keith truly was not made to be a celebrity and yet he had become perhaps one of the most famous people in the world.

As he sat by himself on Keith's ridiculously comfortable living room couch, Lance's thoughts suddenly wandered back to the day he had accompanied Keith to his first shoot for the mini-drama. Inevitably, his thoughts zero-ed in on that kiss scene between his boyfriend and his teenage crush. It truly had been a challenge not to scream seeing Keith kiss Allura. A strange mix of ugly jealousy and overpowering arousal had dominated Lance's mind at the sight, nearly melting his thoughts into mush. It didn't help that after each take, Keith would immediately glance his way, as though confirming that Lance was still okay with the situation; not that Lance would have had much say in the matter anyway. Professionals that they were, neither Keith or Allura had seemed all that affected by the many takes it took to get the kiss just right and from enough angles, despite their history. It somewhat put Lance's heart at ease and yet, he couldn't help but feel a certain darkness well up inside him when he thought back to the sight of Keith tenderly holding Allura in his arms.

Lance nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the digital lock of the front door beeping. It was an incredibly disturbing noise to hear in the otherwise deathly silent house. With a sudden burst of giddy anticipation rushing through his body, Lance sat up on the couch and impatiently waited for Keith's exhausted face to appear in the doorway. He waited and waited, but aside from the sound of the door opening and closing again, nothing happened. Lance debated going to the front door to investigate, when Keith suddenly walked into the living room looking like he had gone to hell and back. His hair was a mess, his clothes were dirty and dishevelled, the look in his eyes wild and a little disoriented. One thing in particular caught Lance off guard.

"Is that blood?" Lance yelped, jumping off the couch to immediately inspect Keith's stained hands. But before he could reach him, Keith suddenly dashed away towards the bathroom and looked the door behind him. "Wait, Keith?" Confused and shocked, Lance followed Keith and listlessly stood in front of the locked bathroom door. "Keith? What's going on? What happened?" From inside he could hear the sound of rushing water but no response. "Keith!"

With Keith unresponsive, Lance was left completely lost as to what to do. Defeated, he slid down in front of the bathroom door and simply sat there waiting, hoping Keith would eventually open the door. Quite a long time passed like that, with Lance silently listening to Keith rummaging around inside. When he was on the verge of giving up hope, he could hear rustling and a soft thud against the door from inside, instantly rekindling his spirit. "Keith?" he murmured carefully, staring at the door as though he could see through it and see Keith leaning against it. "What happened?"

At first, there was another long silence, the house quiet enough the distant sound of cars passing by outside and the wind rustling leaves could be heard. But then Keith finally spoke. He sounded tired and broken. "Just check online. It's probably all over the internet by now."

Taken aback by the somewhat hostile tone, Lance reluctantly pulled out his phone and did as suggested. Almost immediately, all kinds of headlines jumped at him and he suddenly understood what had made Keith this way.

_"Car ploughs through crowd of Keith fans, 6 injured"_

_"Keith reportedly got into scuffle with reckless driver who ran over his fans"_

_"Driver deliberately accelerates into crowd before being dragged out and given beating by pop-star Keith"_

Articles varied in how outrageously they reported the events but one thing was clear: someone had run over Keith's fans and as a result, Keith had lost his shit.

Dread swimming in his gut and slowly seeping into the rest of his body, Lance had to collect his thoughts for a while before he could even speak. "I still wanna hear what happened directly from you," he said quietly, almost in a whisper; as though he was speaking to an easily frightened animal. Shiro's words about Keith being weak to sincerity echoed in his mind. "Please."

After another drawn out silence, Keith finally sighed in defeat. In a reluctant and quiet voice he began to recount the events that had led to all those headlines.

Keith had been on his way to a radio show recording together with Shiro. The studio had been across the street from the location he had done an interview at in the morning, so he had meant to simply cross the street to get to his next destination. To his misfortune, his schedule had been leaked and the moment he had stepped outside for even a moment, he had gotten mobbed by fans. He had tried his hardest to stay calm and somehow keep the situation under control, but things quickly escalated once he got to the street he needed to cross. The street wasn't very busy, so the fans had absolutely no qualms about mobbing him to the point he couldn't actually get to other side of the street. He got stuck right there on the road, Shiro visibly growing wary of the situation as he tried to fend people off. Eventually, cars began honking when they couldn't pass through the crowd. According to Keith, things got so chaotic he couldn't even tell how many cars were lined up waiting like that.

All of a sudden, Keith had heard the shrill sound of screeching tires, immediately followed by screaming and enraged cursing. He had gotten knocked to the ground by people desperately trying to escape the car that suddenly rushed into crowd. After mowing down three people and somewhat clearing a path, it begun forcing its way through the crowd, constantly bumping into people who couldn't physically escape its path. Seeing this happen, Keith completely snapped. The moment the car appeared next to him, he tore open the driver side door and dragged out the person at the wheel. Keith's memories of what happened after were fuzzy, but he recalled seeing blood before Shiro managed to pull him off the guy.

By the end of his story, Keith sounded lifeless and broken. "I know some of my fans are insufferable stalkers who go to ridiculous lengths just to get me to notice them, but they still don't deserve being run over by a car like that."

Lance was at a complete loss for words. What was he even supposed to say to that? No one in that situation had acted correctly. Those fans shouldn't have mobbed Keith to the point of disturbing traffic and that driver obviously shouldn't have taken matters into his own hands like that. But Keith and his temper were another matter. "You pulling that guy out saved a lot of people, Keith. It's probably thanks to you that no one got severely hurt. Everyone's gonna be fine."

Pulling the driver out had prevented him from injuring more, had possibly prevented something even worse happening. But beating him up would only earn Keith an assault charge. And Keith probably knew that better than anyone else.

To Lance's shock, the bathroom door suddenly unlocked behind him and he nearly fell backwards had he not caught himself. "Wha–"

"Don't turn around," Keith commanded when Lance made to get up.

Once Lance stilled without a word, he could hear Keith moving behind him. A moment later, a tousled mop of hair landed heavily on his shoulder. "Keith…"

"Don't look at me."

Sighing to himself, Lance did as we was told and diligently kept his eyes forward. After a while, he began running his fingers through Keith's hair in what he hoped was a soothing manner. "You crying?"

"I'm not," Keith grumbled quietly. He truly did not sound like he was crying, but that could simply be a facade.

After a while, arms wrapped around his torso and Lance found himself completely engulfed by Keith's body. Keith usually wasn't such a touchy-feely person, so Lance didn't quite know what to do when he was essentially being used as some kind of oversized teddy bear.

"Why are you even here?"

Keith's quiet question made Lance pause. It took him a moment of rifling through his muddled thoughts, but when he remembered his purpose in waiting for Keith in his home, he shuddered. "It's fine." He had come to tell Keith about the stalker. "I can tell you some other time." This wasn't a situation where he could tell Keith something so grave. Keith was currently at his lowest, physically and mentally. If Lance told him about something like that now of all times, it would be nothing short of cruel.

"You sure?"

Lance nodded silently, mentally praying to some higher entity that nothing bad would happen before he could tell Keith the truth. He already knew that the moment Keith found out, _something_ would happen. What that something was, he couldn't predict. All Lance knew was that he had a bad feeling about whatever Keith would do.

* * *

Keith uncertainly stood in front of the aquarium Lance worked at, a baseball cap and thick glasses somewhat concealing his face. The glasses didn't hide all that much, but considering the dreary weather, it would make no sense for him to wear sunglasses; he would only stand out even more. He could only hope the added ponytail would make his hair less recognisable. "And you're sure he's gonna take his break soon?"

_"His co-worker said so,"_ Shiro reassured him. _"He almost always takes his break around this time to eat lunch."_

Hearing the words, Keith's eyebrows pulled together into a suspicious frown. "Lance mentioned this to me before, but you're in contact with a lot of people around him. Why? You realise you're being really creepy, right?"

_"I tell Lance where you are all the time. It's only fair I keep tabs on his whereabouts too."_

Just barely holding himself back from face-palming, Keith instead let out a long sigh. "Fine, whatever. Just make sure no one finds out I'm here. Make up a meeting or whatever, I don't care. I don't want anyone calling me for a couple hours, alright?"

_"You should worry more about being discovered, you know."_

"Don't worry. It's early and it's dark inside the aquarium. No one's gonna notice me."

A drawn out sigh left Shiro, the sound slightly distorted through the phone speakers. _"If you say so. Take care."_

"Yeah, bye." The moment Keith hung up, he finally gathered the courage to actually head inside. Blending into the crowd was easy enough. People were too busy taking care of their kids or chatting amongst themselves to pay much attention to the guy in a hat and glasses standing by himself and staring at the ground. Once Keith stood in front of the ticket counter, he noticed the woman inside the booth giving him oddly pointed looks the entire time. When she handed him his ticket, she suddenly leaned forward.

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask our staff for help."

Keith only nodded listlessly, certain that she hadn't said that to the people who had bought tickets before him. Pondering over whether or not she knew something, he headed inside and found himself in the midst of a crowd of school children. The first time he had come here to see Lance, it had been relatively empty. Now it was the time for school trips and excursions, so naturally he was surrounded by kids. Suppressing a groan, Keith began walking to where he knew Lance usually took his breaks. He had gotten directions from Shiro and could only hope they were correct.

More than once Keith had to resist the temptation to stop walking so he could admire the various tanks and displays. He could do all that once he had found Lance, so for now he kept his eyes forward and his pace brisk. Eventually, he made it to one of the large ocean tanks that housed various sea creatures all floating amidst colourful reefs. What caught his eye immediately was the diver swimming around inside cleaning the glass and occasionally throwing treats to the fish. A turtle swam by and lingered as though asking for food; it only left once it was thrown a small morsel. Keith was so in awe at the interaction that it took him a while to recognise the diver.

Soon enough, Lance was done cleaning the tank and gracefully flipped away from the glass walls. In a languid pace, he swam towards the back and left the tank, prompting Keith to sneak his way through the crowd and towards one of the staff members staying nearby. The ticket lady _had_ said to ask them for help if he needed anything. "Hey," he greeted a staff member who looked to be around his own age.

"Hi! What can I do–" The guy seemed to do a double-take and upon seeing Keith's panicked expression, he stopped himself from whatever exclamation he had been about to let out. "Oh! Sorry, yeah, you probably don't want people to know you're here. I'm James! You wanna see Lance, huh?"

Keith nodded silently, afraid that even uttering a single word could make nearby people recognise him as well.

"If you follow the edge of the tank there's a door. It's for staff only but no one's gonna mind you going in."

"Thanks," Keith mumbled somewhat listlessly, before immediately heading down the direction James had pointed out. He couldn't shake the feeling that absolutely none of the staff were surprised to see him. As though they had expected for him to show up sooner or later. Considering Shiro was apparently in contact with someone here, he probably shouldn't be surprised. It was still shocking that even after getting into such a large-scale scandal not too long ago, most people didn't really care. Keith was surrounded by his work and the media all day everyday, so it was difficult to escape the echo chamber that was people constantly flinging criticism and hate at him. Sometimes it felt as though the entire world was against him, when in reality, it was really only a handful of people, relatively speaking.

Lost in thought, it didn't take long for Keith to arrive at the door labelled "Staff only." He was hesitant to actually open it, afraid he was about to add to his various misdemeanours. But then the door swung open on its own and he had to take a step back, least it would have smacked him in the face.

"Oh." A middle-aged woman with dirty blond hair greeted him, realisation seemingly hitting her when she spotted Keith. Her gaze briefly checked the surroundings, as though searching for anyone that might be watching, before she leaned into Keith and began to whisper. "Follow me."

Stunned, Keith mumbled a quiet "Okay" and obediently followed the woman when she turned and went back inside the door.

"I'm Lance's supervisor," she began to explain. "He's getting out of the tank right now and should be free for about an hour. After his break he needs to do a tour, so don't hog him for too long. I'm busy so I can't keep an eye on you two or anything." As she said those words, she sent a somewhat warning look back at Keith, who only gulped at the ruthless gleam in her eyes. He could totally picture her whipping Lance into shape with that sharp gaze of hers.

Before Keith ever saw Lance, his heart rate was already picking up. It had only been a week since Lance had been at his house, but it hadn't exactly been a happy reunion. The car incident had dominated their entire time together, completely overshadowing everything else. And yet Lance had stayed until late at night, until Keith finally felt less chaotic and heartbroken. Keith had always known that Lance was a caring person who could easily devote much of his time to taking care of the people he cared about, but Keith hadn't truly known the lengths he would go to until that day. Lance had spent much of the day checking in with Shiro, acting almost as a second manager and providing Keith with everything he needed to feel calm and relaxed. From food to entertainment to endless chattering in order to distract him, Lance had done everything in his power to make Keith feel better. It had gotten to a point where Keith had considered paying him, considering Lance was doing actual work, but he had already known that he would definitely reject it. Why Lance was so against using Keith's money was still a bit of a mystery to him, but he couldn't do much if he was so opposed to it.

Once Keith followed the supervisor around a corner, his heart nearly dropped through his stomach when he caught sight of Lance. He was still in his diving suit, dripping wet with water droplets falling from his lithe body with even the smallest movement. Keith hadn't noticed until now, but Lance had apparently toned up a little. His shoulders seemed a little wider, his upper arms thicker. As he let his gaze wander, Keith's eyes got completely stuck at Lance's lower back, the mesmerising curve of his spine as it flowed into his rear. Suddenly, Lance turned his body and unfortunately hid away those delicious dips and mounds. His eyes widened impossibly when he saw Keith and he immediately began to sputter. 

"Ho– wha– Keith!"

Keith absolutely revelled in the completely dumbfounded look on Lance's face. He was staring at Keith as though he had emerged from some sort of dimensional tear in time and space. When Lance's shock was then replaced by sudden laughter, Keith began to frown. "What?" he grumbled.

"You…! Those–!" Bent over laughing, Lance could only point at Keith's face, unable to form words.

Slightly embarrassed, Keith quickly whipped off the, admittedly, stupidly thick glasses and marched towards his boyfriend, paying no mind to his stunned co-worker standing nearby. "It's not that funny."

"No, it really is," Lance managed to say once he had calmed down a little. "You look like such a nerd! It's adorable! Put the glasses back on, please! I beg you!"

"I'm leaving." True to his words, Keith turned on the spot and made to walk off, but was stopped by Lance's hand on his arm holding him back.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Sorry." There was still an amused lilt to Lance's voice, but at least he wasn't laughing anymore. He was about to speak, when his co-worker finally spoke up.

"Hey, Lance, now that your boyfriend's here, he can help you out of that wetsuit, huh?"

Flustered, Lance could only glare after his co-worker as he left. "He's just here to hang out!" His embarrassment only deepened when his supervisor shot him a suggestive wink before leaving as well.

Keith watched the entire exchange with a growing smile, both because it was fun to see Lance receive some of his own medicine and because watching him fret like this was always a delight. But when Keith actually truly got a good look at his face, he noticed faded splotches of red across Lance's left cheek. "Did someone hit you?"

Lance's smile immediately fell and he instinctively covered his cheek with his hand. "Uh…"

With how frantic Lance suddenly looked, Keith could tell he was trying to come up with some kind of lie. And so before Lance could even voice whatever dumb excuse he came up with, Keith pulled him into a kiss that made them both sigh in relief. Kissing Lance after a week of not seeing him felt like coming home to a warm bed with freshly made sheets. It was comforting and put Keith's mind at ease like nothing else. When he finally pulled away, Keith could see Lance shooting him a questioning look. He _had_ kissed him out of nowhere after all. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Eyes widening a little at the words, Lance eventually smiled dryly. "No, it's fine." He took a deep breath as though preparing himself, eyes growing steely as he gathered his thoughts. "I went to see my grandmother in the hospital."

Already, Keith dreaded Lance's next words. Looking at his suddenly downcast expression and lifeless eyes, he could already imagine how things had gone.

"I didn't even get to say hi before she…" Lance's voice was growing shakier as he spoke, tears welling up in his clear blue eyes. "She didn't even let me talk, Keith. She used to listen to me babble and rant for hours, but now…"

Keith flinched inwardly at the words. He knew how much Lance adored his family and although he couldn't relate at all, he could tell that his grandmother's fervent disapproval of their relationship weighed on Lance heavily. "Sorry."

"I didn't think she could ever say that kind of stuff. She just kept going on and on and I…"

Unable to bear seeing Lance break apart like that in front of him any longer, Keith engulfed Lance in a hug. Immediately, he could feel the wetness of Lance's diving gear soaking into his own clothes, but he paid it no mind. He had no words to comfort Lance with, nothing he could say to possibly make him feel any better. All he could do was hold him and hope to make him feel just the tiniest bit more loved.

They stayed like that for quite a while. With time, the tremors rocking Lance's body subsided and his breathing calmed. Eventually, Keith flinching when a cold droplet of water slid into his collar made them finally pull apart from each other. Although there were no tears, Lance definitely looked like he had sobbed his eyes out for hours. Perhaps he had; by himself, unwilling to show others his pain. Keith couldn't even get angry at him over it because he would have done the exact same thing. Even in this very moment, Keith was hiding the fact that he could feel his leg throbbing vaguely with oncoming pain. That usually indicated that he needed to rest very soon, lest he wouldn't be able to stand comfortably for the rest of the day.

Lance didn't look at him when he turned to walk away. Although he was avoiding eye contact, he kept his fingers loosely laced with Keith's. That only prompted Keith to properly grasp his hand and let himself get pulled along. The staff hallway was eerily quiet, the distant electric humming of machines the only sounds disturbing the silence. They soon arrived in a locker room of sorts, shoes, coats, and other random clothing items strewn about.

"You gonna watch me undress?"

When Keith met Lance's gaze, instead of bashfulness or frustration, he only found something casual and subtly flirtatious swimming in those azure eyes. It easily put an equally flirty smirk on his own face. "Embarrassed?"

Lance scoffed a little at the challenging tone, a certain competitive fire entering his eyes. "Not really. I just don't think you'll get much out of it. It's just gonna be me huffing and puffing as I struggle to get out of this damn suit."

"Sounds hot."

For the first time in a while, Lance laughed. "Pervert."

There was a twinge of anxiety in Keith's mind at the thought that Lance might be hiding more injuries – why else would he be shy now, of all times? – but he decided not to heed it any mind. As he continued staring, Lance finally seemed to grow a little sheepish. Despite his growing apprehension, some kind of flip switched in Lance that made his gaze grow almost unbearably heady. The strange mix of embarrassment and desire in his eyes immediately set Keith off. He could feel arousal abruptly kicking him in the gut, prompting him to stand up and quickly close in on his boyfriend. Perhaps with a little too much fervour, he crowded Lance against the lockers, trapping him against one of the creaky metal doors. His lips were on Lance's before Keith could even think clearly, the surprised moan that came out of Lance exhilarating. Lance's skin smelled of water and sea life and soon enough, Keith's clothes were almost as wet as Lance's diving suit.

They kissed for what felt like hours. It was hungry yet languid, bodies pressed up against each other and limbs tangled around each other. Lance's lips were warm and intoxicating, the taste of him so comforting that Keith never wanted to stop kissing him. The hand suddenly sliding down his front made it clear Lance had other intentions though. Keith had to suppress a groan when Lance boldly cupped his erection, his grip firm and hot. Having kept his hands on Lance's arm, Keith began sliding them down the slippery curve of his lower back, before closing his palms over his boyfriend's ass. The layer of wetness covering Lance's entire body made every touch smooth and velvety, the suit accentuating his every curve and hard line. Keith almost got lost in the sensation of his hands sliding across the wet material of the diving suit.

"Keith…!"

The slightly pained tone of Lance's voice finally snapped Keith out of his daze. He realised that he had been aggressively massaging Lance's ass cheeks, fingers gradually sliding further and further between them. "S-sorry," he gasped.

A small chuckle came from Lance. "I mean… I guess I'm flattered."

With the tension a little broken, Keith paused to take a small breath. His breathing had grown laboured simply from touching Lance; although Lance wasn't off much better. Despite his apology, Keith soon began groping Lance again. He ignored the annoyed little frown on his boyfriend's face and ran his fingers along the curve of Lance's ass.

"What're you doing?" Lance eventually questioned, looking about ready to swat off Keith's wandering hands.

"Trying to figure out what you're wearing underneath. Are you wearing a speedo or something? I don't feel anything." Noticing the pregnant silence, Keith glanced up to find his boyfriend defiantly staring off to the side with a somewhat pinched expression. "Lance?"

A noticeable flush took over Lance's face. "Nothing." Crossing his arms, Lance suddenly looked ready to bolt. "I'm not wearing anything underneath."

"Oh…"

The second he saw the blank look on Keith's face, Lance panicked. "I just forgot to bring my swim gear! I don't usually go commando! And it's dark in the tanks, so no one would see even if–!" He suddenly paused, eyebrows pulling together in confusion. "Keith?" He seemed to notice the sudden tension in the air, expression softening and gaze growing inquisitive. "So what do you wanna do?"

The question caught Keith off guard. They usually didn't discuss these things and simply let things flow in the heat of the moment. The moment he had to think about his actions, Keith came up blank. "Uh…"

"I'm still in this suit, so I'm kinda limited in what I can do, you know." Lance sounded awfully nonchalant for someone who had gotten impossibly hard from having his ass groped. "At this point I'm up for anything as long as it doesn't take too long. We only have an hour, remember?"

Keith could sense a hint of something disconcerting in Lance's voice. He almost seemed frantic or nervous, as though he was acting casual to cover up his actual mood. Although Keith had become proficient in noticing when Lance was putting up a front, he still didn't know how to handle it. Either way, now wasn't the time to address it anyway.

Lance looked puzzled when Keith suddenly pulled away and hungrily raked his eyes all over his body. Keith could see the apprehension in his eyes, the confusion over what was happening and what he was going to do. It was tantalising, to say the least. "Turn around," Keith ordered curtly, surprised by the roughness of his own voice. He expected Lance to put up some kind of resistance, question his motives, _anything_. Anything but him obediently turning around without another word, hands coming up to rest against the lockers. From behind, Lance somehow looked frail despite his broad shoulders. He was taller than Keith, but his waist was surprisingly narrow, his back slim. With Lance in a skintight diving suit, this was the closest Keith had ever gotten to seeing his boyfriend naked. The material clung to every inch of Lance's body and only accentuated just how deliciously toned he truly was. Absent-mindedly, Keith began running his hands across Lance's sides, over his waist, then down to his narrow hips. He could feel his mind cloud over with lust as he pulled Lance's ass against his clothed dick, his own ensuing moan mingling with Lance's in the otherwise quiet changing room.

When Lance began squirming in front of him, essentially rubbing himself against Keith's groin, Keith dug his nails into the wet material of Lance's diving suit and shoved their hips even closer together. The breathless moan that came from Lance made Keith a little weak in the knees, prompting him to slam a hand against the locker to keep himself upright, right next to Lance's head. He could feel Lance flinch at the sudden loud noise and was suddenly mesmerised by the naked sliver of skin on the back of Lance's neck, peaking out of his tight collar. It was one of the few areas on Lance's body not covered by his diving suit, making it all the more alluring. While running his free hand over Lance's chest and relishing in the little shuddering breaths his boyfriend let out, Keith began kissing the back of Lance's neck. Lance's skin felt cool and wet when he licked it, his own tongue feeling impossibly hot against it. When the little bit of exposed skin wasn't enough anymore, Keith began unzipping Lance's diving suit until he could bite at the junction between Lance's neck and shoulder. He could hear himself groan with want as he bit down hard enough to leave a mark, Lance bucking against him with a choked moan.

The locker rattled loudly with both of them moving against it. Keith only stopped assaulting Lance's neck when Lance reached back to guide Keith's lips to his own. He wasted no time slipping his tongue into Keith's mouth, suddenly ravenous in the way he kissed. The kiss was messy and uncoordinated, especially with Keith beginning to roll his hips against Lance's ass.

"Lance," Keith gasped when he suddenly pulled away, choking down a loud moan. Lance had begun rocking against him, moving his ass across Keith's clothed and already leaking cock. It seemed impossible, but Keith could feel himself grow even harder, making the restraint of his pants almost painful. "Lance, I can't…" The moan that slipped out of him sounded pitiful even to his own ears. Composure completely lost, Keith began fiddling with his zipper with shaky hands, desperate to free his weeping cock.

Keith's salvation came when Lance reached between them and effortlessly opened his pants for him. Immediately, his fingers slipped inside and Keith almost cried at the blissful feeling of Lance's hand sliding over his rock-hard dick. It was slick with pre-cum and almost unbearably hot, Lance's fingers against it cool and soothing.

"What now?"

Lance's quiet question almost didn't reach Keith. He was by now slumped across Lance's back, his head on Lance's shoulder as the sound of his erratic breathing filled the room. He was only vaguely aware that Lance had spoken at all when he regained enough composure to stand on his own again. Dazed and drunk on desire, Keith pulled down his underwear until his leaking erection could spring free. With a firm grip, he then grasped Lance's hips again and pulled them close, until Lance's ass met his hard cock. "Keep your legs together," he ordered.

"Keith, what– Oh fuck…!"

Nearly faltering at the loud surprised gasp that came from Lance, Keith almost lost his mind as he slid his cock between Lance's thighs. His legs were shaky and unsteady as he thrust into Lance, the sensation of his dick sliding between Lance's ass cheeks mind-blowing. The wet diving suit made the slide smooth and provided a delicious friction. Keith was clinging to Lance now, hands frantically digging into his hips, his thighs, his waist, anywhere he could find purchase and keep himself upright as he thrust away. His lips found Lance's neck once again and Keith began muffling his desperate moans into his skin. He could feel Lance's hips bucking against him, rolling along with his every thrust. With time, the friction began to feel painful and too hot, but Keith was too far gone to stop now; especially with Lance dazedly blabbering his name over and over like that. 

The sudden orgasm nearly knocked the air out of Keith's lungs. He was short of breath when he came, dizzy from panting so much. His hips lost all rhythm, spasms of pleasure zipping throughout his entire body and setting his skin alight. Suddenly, his entire body felt oversensitive. He was holding on to Lance for dear life, briefly letting nearly his entire weight rest on his boyfriend.

"Keith," Lance eventually gasped, "you're heavy."

Once Keith managed to catch his breath, he stumbled backwards and fell onto a bench. "Sorry." He was still panting a little as he watched Lance shakily slide to the floor. For a moment, they stared at each other, gazes still hazy and faces flushed. It took Keith a while, but eventually his eyes moved to Lance's cum-stained thighs; he couldn't suppress a satisfied smirk at the sight.

Eventually, Lance buried his face in his hand and groaned. "Why do we always end up doing this stuff _in public_?"

"I'm not the one prancing around in a skintight neoprene suit," Keith shot back defiantly as he messily stuffed himself back into his pants. "And it's not like you were all that against it."

"Shut up." Lance's retort lacked any bite and rather than argue back, he opted to glare downwards at his soiled diving suit. "This better not stain."

"Why not? I think I'd like that, to be honest."

The blank look that Lance sent Keith was withering. "You dirty fucking pervert." His judgemental gaze remained on Keith until Lance eventually sighed. "You gonna let me change out of his suit in peace or not?"

Despite his burning, all-consuming need to watch his boyfriend strip out of that deliciously tight suit, Keith gave Lance privacy and turned around; although not without an offended frown. Lance, meanwhile, fought his way out of his wetsuit. Keith could _hear_ how much trouble he was having getting out of that thing, somewhat relishing in listening to the string of expletives that ceaselessly fell from his boyfriend's lips. It was rare to witness Lance _this_ frustrated, after all.

It took some time, a few more curses, and some annoyed sighing and groaning, before Lance managed to break free. "All done." There was a shy little smile on his face when Keith turned back around to look at him. Lance was suddenly oddly bashful, now that he didn't have an excuse to get Keith to stop staring holes into his face anymore. "Why do you keep staring at me like that? Am I really _that_ interesting to look at?" 

"Yeah," Keith blurted out instantly.

Lance was about to shoot off another quip in response, but was interrupted by his phone buzzing in his pocket. His face immediately fell and his body noticeably tensed up. It was obvious something was going on and Keith didn't know whether to confront him about it or not. He had his own fair share of secrets and things he was keeping from Lance, so what right did he have to demand the truth from Lance? Was this situation any different simply because Lance was in such obvious distress? Should Keith poke despite it being hypocritical to do so?

"Hey, what's up?" Lance answered the call, momentarily going completely silent as he listened to the person on the other end. Gradually, with each passing second, the tension left his body and his face went pale. "What do you mean, _inside_?"

Disturbed by Lance's shaky voice, Keith perked up. He could see in Lance's posture that something bad had happened and looking into his eyes, he could see unabashed fear.

Whoever Lance was talking to sounded upset, _hysteric_ almost. "No, well… I guess so. I tried but they said they couldn't do anything unless some kind of crime happened."

Keith finally jumped up from the bench he had been sitting on, walking closer so he could look at Lance directly with imploring eyes. All he received in return was a worried and meek frown.

Lance, meanwhile, continued listening to whoever was ranting at him over the phone. Eventually, he seemed to deflate a little. "Yeah, it's probably my fault. Sorry. I'll come over later." He paused to listen to somewhat calmer ranting from the other person, face frozen in anxiety the entire time. "Yeah. Bye."

When Lance finally ended the call, Keith could somewhat understand the thoughts going through both their minds. It was obvious Lance had to speak up. Keith now knew for sure something was going on and most likely, Lance was aware of Keith's suspicions regarding his recent behaviour. There was no way around revealing what was happening anymore.

"So…" Lance had trouble meeting Keith's eyes, his gaze constantly slipping towards the floor. "Um… someone… broke into my parents' house. Nothing was stolen and my parents are fine, but whoever broke in left a note."

Keith's eyebrows pulled together into a frown as he watched his boyfriend. "You don't seem surprised."

Lance only briefly locked eyes with Keith, before he lowered his head slightly. "It's probably… the same person that broke into my apartment. Handwriting matches and everything." 

Hearing those words spoken in such a matter-of-fact way made Keith feel as though a rug had been snatched out underneath him. He felt himself sink into a dark void at the realisation that _this_ was what Lance had been dealing with all this time. He had figured it was simply trouble with a friend or some kind of family issue, but never in a million years would he have expected something as extreme as a stalker. "Who…?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

Keith still hadn't fully processed the situation, leaving him to simply stare at Lance listlessly for a long moment. After a while, he lifelessly sank back onto the bench. "Is it my fault?" he suddenly murmured, all strength leaving his body. "Is this–"

"No!" Lance shouted firmly. "This has nothing to do with you!"

"But–"

"Keith, listen…" With a thud, Lance plopped down next to Keith on the bench and leaned in to stare into his eyes with an unwavering gaze. "Whoever is doing this doesn't like you, that much I know for sure. It's not one of your fans."

"What if it's exactly that though?" Keith could see the shred of uncertainty enter Lance's eyes when he, too, mulled over the possibility. "What if it's someone who wants to hurt me through you?"

Silent while he briefly became lost in thought, Lance eventually shook his head. "I don't get that feeling. I can't explain it, I just…"

Seeing Lance struggle to put his mind at ease only made Keith feel worse. He couldn't imagine that there was absolutely no connecting between him and Lance being stalked like this. "How long has this been going on?"

As soon as he uttered the words, Lance turned away to hide his expression, an insurmountable distance suddenly springing up between them. "Couple weeks."

Keith had to bite down all the anger and disbelief that wanted to bubble out of him in loud rants and yelled tirades. He could tell the last thing needed in this situation was him blowing up. "And what's going on with your family?"

Lance's fingers dug into his pockets as he, again, seemed to want to escape, knowing there was no way around this conversation. "Someone broke into my parents' house and went through my old room."

Breathing deeply through his nose to keep his already boiling temper at bay, Keith forced his voice to stay even. "You're going to see your parents?" Seeing Lance nod out of the corner of his eyes, he then let out a sharp breath of air. "Let me come along."

It wasn't so much a request as it was a demand, leaving Lance no room to refuse. And so he silently nodded once more, still keeping his head down. Keith wanted to comfort him but was too charged and riled up to be able to say anything remotely reassuring. And so he kept his mouth shut, scared even a singly word out of his mouth would devolve into an angry rant.

* * *

Things at his parents' house were much worse than Lance had made them out to be. Lance's old room was completely trashed. Every single drawer had been pulled out, every door opened, every possible container of any kind upturned and the contents spilled all over the room. The rest of the house was apparently untouched, making the mess in Lance's house all the more eery. The fact that Lance had reached a point where he was too exhausted by the situation to be visibly shocked only upset Keith more. It didn't help that Lance's mother was sending Keith those lingering, unreadable glances. She had to be angry and scared, especially after specifically warning Keith not to bring any harm to Lance. And yet, he had managed to do exactly that. Exposing Lance to the world had inevitably led to this exact situation, with some deranged stalker breaking into the places Lance considered home. Lance could tell Keith's mood was only darkening the more destruction they discovered, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Keith's tone had an accusatory edge, broken up by how devastated he sounded. "Why didn't you…"

Lank shrunk back a little, posture meek and gaze squarely on the floor. "I didn't think it would get this bad," he admitted quietly. "I thought I could handle it on my own. I thought involving you would just…"

"Just what?"

Lance hesitated, but eventually his eyes parted from the floor and finally met Keith's. "Make more trouble." The moment he uttered the words, Lance could see Keith tense up. With the way he balled his fists and began glaring at the floor, Lance could tell his temper was rising, that he was getting closer and closer to that point at which his emotions would overflow. "Keith?" Concern in his voice, Lance began searching his boyfriend's face. "What're you gonna do?" When there was no answer and the silence grew unbearable, Lance shuddered. "Keith!"

"Are you telling me not to do anything?"

The frigid tone immediately set off warning bells in Lance's head. He had never heard Keith speak like this. His words were void of emotion, curling around Lance's head like an icy vice. "Keith, please, I get wanting to catch this person and have them arrested. But you… What're you gonna do?"

"Lance, don't you see you're in danger?!" Keith suddenly exploded. "You and everyone around you! Are you really gonna sit around and wait until something bad happens?!"

"What're you saying? I'll just go to the police and–"

"And what? Report a break-in, then go back to your apartment where some crazy stalker can get in whenever they want and hurt you?!"

The accusation in Keith's words was undeniable. Having spent weeks in terror, worrying over whether he should tell Keith the truth or not, Lance could feel his own anger boiling up at the way Keith was responding. They were in a relationship. Keith was supposed to support him and comfort him, not make him feel worse than he already did. "What else am I supposed to do?" Lance murmured quietly, no bite to his words. In a way, he had already given up. The police couldn't do anything and he didn't have the means to do anything about this stalker himself. Still, he didn't want to turn to Keith for help. There was no telling what Keith would do when met this stalker. When Lance cautiously swept his gaze towards Keith once more, he found a disturbingly dark look on his face. "Promise me you won't hurt anyone over me." Once again, no answer. "Keith. Promise me."

"I can't."

The way Keith said those words immediately made Lance's shrink back with trepidation. An inexplicably dark feeling settled in his gut and Lance could barely keep his voice from shaking when he spoke. "I shouldn't have told you. I should've just kept lying." When Keith turned around to frown at him with that disturbingly cold look in his eyes, Lance couldn't keep the anger out of his words. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you!" When Keith didn't reply and simply continued staring with that same unfeeling gaze, Lance finally lost it. "For once in your life, can't you just solve things without hurting someone?!"

"Sorry, but I can't. This stalker has gone too far." Keith's tone was biting and razor-sharp, the cold edge of his voice frightening to listen to. "I've lost a friend to a crazy fan before, Lance. I'm not letting that happen to you. I won't."

The revelation was earth-shattering and completely turned Lance's world upside down for a long moment, but considering everything that was already going on, he couldn't linger on it for too long. His mind was already far too overloaded with thoughts. "There has to be another way." Lance was pleading by this point.

"I don't think there is."

It was in this moment that Lance realised how far Keith would truly go for him.

And how absolutely terrifying that was.

Keith would throw away his career, his _life_ , for Lance in a heartbeat. Several times already he hadn't even hesitated before physically lashing out at people that had mistreated Lance in any way. Clearly, he lost all sense of self-preservation when it came to Lance and that was harrowing to realise. Lance had to do something, or else Keith would wind up destroying himself for him. "Let's break up." Lance couldn't even look at the way shock and hurt took over Keith's face. If he did, he would lose the will to utter his next words. "I've been thinking about this for a while, you know. I still get pestered almost daily by fans and random strangers. Every single week some kind of sensational article is written about me. I can't go out in public in peace anymore. It's all too much."

"Lance, don't…"

Lance was desperate to keep the tears at bay, to not appear as heartbroken as he felt. "We barely see each other, so going through all this doesn't even feel worth it. When we _do_ meet, I feel like I'm just your second manager. I can't confide in you or enjoy being with you because every time we see each other, all I do is take care of _your_ needs and _your_ troubles. I just want a normal relationship. But that's never gonna be possible with you."

"Lance–"

"Please…" Choking on his own words, Lance could feel tears threatening to fall, a sob burying itself in his throat and momentarily silencing him. A hand wrapped around his arm. It was warm. Usually it would have been comforting, but now the warmth of Keith's hand felt searing, like it was eating away at his body, threatening to set him on fire. "I can't do this anymore." Losing all strength, the hand fell away from his arm.

Lance was the first to go. After a long, tense silence passed between, he turned on the spot and made to leave. But before he could make it through the door, he was held back by a hand closing around his own.

"What do I have to do to make you stay?"

The entire time he had known Keith, Lance had never heard him sound like this; broken and afraid, close to tears. He didn't turn around, too afraid seeing Keith would completely shatter his already weak resolve. He had to muster up his last remaining composure simply to get out his next words without faltering. "Promise me you won't go after the stalker." The hand around his immediately tightened to a point it almost hurt. He could hear in the way Keith's breath hitched how much he was fighting with himself. Lance truly did understand where Keith was coming from. If he were in his position and if he had gone through the same experiences he had, most likely he would do the same thing. But Lance had his own reasons for making this decision. And there was no way he would back down. Not if backing down meant allowing Keith to ruin himself.

A sharp intake of breath indicated that Keith was about to break the fragile silence, seal both their fates, decide if their future would continue together or apart.

"I can't," he murmured, almost too quiet to hear.

Something in Lance broke. "If you do anything, I swear I'll never talk to you again." Lance had to hold his breath as he shook off Keith's hand and finally walked out of the room, lest he would have sobbed miserably. His pace quickened the moment the door fell shut behind him and by the time he made it to the stairs, he was sprinting. His sight was blurred with tears as he rushed out of the house, barely acknowledging his parents and his sister in the living room as he ran past them and out the front door.

It took several long minutes of stumbling down the sidewalk constantly wiping at his wet eyes and choking on sobs before Lance realised that he had come here with Keith's car, meaning he had no means to get back to his apartment. He abruptly stopped at a traffic light, watching the light change from bright red to neon green, tears dripping down his chin. He crumbled right there, sinking into a crouch with his face buried in his arms. He could hear passersby voicing their concern, asking if he was all right, trying to help him up. But he remained where he was, pitifully sniffling into his sleeves as he the world around him became both too quiet and too loud to bear. Too bright yet too dark. Too alive, but too painfully lonely as well.

Lance stayed like that until a familiar voice approached and a comforting warmth fell down on his back. It took him a while to even register, but his sister had run after him and was trying to get him off the ground and on his feet. "He left," she said, dragging him to her car. "Come on, get in," she murmured in an uncharacteristically gentle and soft voice as she guided him into her passenger seat.

Even sitting in his sister's car and with Veronica desperately trying to somehow comfort him, Lance couldn't stop himself from falling into a hole that only grew deeper and darker the more time passed. It was a steady fall that gradually erased the world around him and completely blocked off any and all sensation aside from the unbearable pain creeping through his every fibre.

It was an endless pit he didn't think he could ever climb out of again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter's pretty late again but you guys are used to that by now. Can't even express how thankful I am that everyone's so patient with me.
> 
> I know this is what everyone's been waiting for. Lance finally told Keith about the stalker! But I'm sure the way their conversation ended is uuuuuh not satisfactory to many. Not sure if anyone's even surprised by the intense angst anymore.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! They're always super fun to read.


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